


A Nightmarish Honeymoon

by missauburnleaf



Series: Parenthood [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Angst, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Friendship, Fíli and Kíli Brotherly Love, Ghosts, Implied Sexual Content, Lactation, M/M, Multi, Mystery, Plot Twists, Psychological Drama, Sexual Content, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-12 14:08:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 38,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7937617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missauburnleaf/pseuds/missauburnleaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So this is it: Our cabin in the woods!” Fili announced while holding a camera in his hands, zooming in on the log lodge in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a dense forest where they would spend the next two weeks...<br/>Together with their friends and their eight week old babies, Fíli, Kíli, and Tauriel spend their honeymoon in a forest cabin.<br/>At first, they enjoy the idyllic atmosphere, but soon they notice that something sinister is lurking there, threatening their sanity and their lives...<br/>This is the sequel to my series "Wish For A Child" and my multi-chaptered story "How To Become A Mother".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl.

“So this is it: Our cabin in the woods!” Fili announced while holding a camera in his hands, zooming in on the log lodge in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a dense forest where they would spend the next two weeks. 

Then he zoomed in on the pretty redhead, just getting out of her car. 

“And this is her: Tauriel, my lovely sister-in-law. She is a beauty, isn't she?” he declared. The redhead, wearing light blue jeans shorts with white lace applications and a green tank top, which had the word  _'gorgeous'_ printed in white letters across her enlarged breasts, laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Careful, brother, she is officially mine now!” a male voice stated and Fili immediately turned the camera towards his younger brother, who had just opened the door on the passenger side of her car, trying to scowl, but failing miserably. Kili had always been too cheerful to look sinister.

At this moment, another car arrived and while Fili was filming how the driver blocked their car in the driveway, Kili finally got out of Tauriel's car and opened the door to the backseat, whereas his wife inspected their surroundings. 

The driver of the other car was Tauriel's brother, Legolas, a gorgeous looking, tall young man, with long blond hair, sparkling blue eyes and an impish smile which accentuated his dimples. As soon as he got out of the car, he started posing for Fili’s camera, laughing as if he had the time of his life.

“Yeah, give it to me, baby,” Fili joked, which earned him a growl from his younger cousin, Gimli, who happened to be Legolas's boyfriend and had just gotten out of the passenger seat of the blond's car. Fili laughed, now filming his cousin's scowl in a close up. 

“Peace, Gimli,” he said and the red-haired young man was flipping the bird at him. 

Fili gasped in mock shock. “This is a family home video! Now I have to cut out your vulgar gesture,” he explained. Gimli ignored him, walking up to his boyfriend, pulling his face down for a heated kiss. Fili averted the camera, filming the grass instead.

“Yuck!” he commented.

“Well, you didn't have problems to film Tauriel and me kissing at our wedding yesterday,” Kili said, walking past his brother, carefully balancing two infant carriers, one in robin red, the other in river blue (because Tauriel had objected Kíli's suggestion to buy a berry pink one for Rory and a mosaic blue one for Teddy) with their peacefully sleeping eight-week old babies.

This time, it was Fili who rolled his eyes. “Well, none of your kisses were as passionate as this one. Honestly, it looks as if they will be screwing each other any minute now!”

There was the sound of another car arriving, car doors opening and carefree laughter. Fili zoomed in on the blue minivan. The laughter belonged to their other cousin, Ori, and his fiancée, Sigrid. 

“Well, it would be good if they got a room then – and if I'm correct, there is a whole cabin in front of us! Why don't we go inside, take a look at it and decide who gets which bedroom?” Kili proposed.

“Sounds great,” Sigrid commented, carrying a six-pack of beer they had purchased at a local petrol station on their way here.

“Fair enough,” Fili replied. 

His brother, however, immediately declared, “Tauriel and I have dibs on the honeymoon suite!”

The others groaned. 

“Well, if the honeymoon suite is a secluded bedroom at the other end of the cabin, then, yeah, you two can totally have it. We definitely don't need to hear what you are doing when you are alone,” Legolas countered.

“Or to hear Rory and Teddy crying at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night because they need to be fed or their diapers to be changed,” Gimli added and Fili had to admit that he had a point. As much as he loved the little boy and girl, caring for such young children was really exhausting. He knew this from experience, especially since he, as his brother's best man and maybe father to at least one of the little ones (Fili was convinced that the blond-haired, green-eyed Teddy was his), had volunteered to babysit them the previous night all by himself so that Kili and Tauriel could enjoy their wedding night (which meant that they were calling him every two hours in order to make sure that everything was alright – which was actually more exhausting than caring for the children, especially when he was woken up from deep sleep because his phone was ringing).

Fili turned the camera towards the cabin again. “Alright, let's go in then. I'm ready. Who has got the keys?” he asked.

“That would be me,” Tauriel answered, pulling a key ring out of her jeans pocket with one hand (and Fili briefly wondered how it had fit into it since the shorts were rather tight, accentuating her marvellous backside) and walking over to them at a more leisurely pace. She was barefooted, carrying her strappy silver sandals in the other hand. He knew why; it was because she loved to feel the grass and earth beneath the soles of her feet.

When she passed her younger husband, he playfully slapped her bottom. Fili couldn't blame him. He also had problems to keep his hands off her at the moment. Her body had changed due to the pregnancy and while she only claimed that now she was fat, Fili and Kili thought that she was still slim, however the few extra pounds had endowed her with very nice curves, like broader hips and larger breasts, so that she now had the figure of a woman and not that of a girl, like before.

Tauriel, however, scowled at Kili while spinning around. 

“Do that again and I will have to punish you!” she declared, looking dead serious.

Kili, on the other hand, seemed to be still in a playful mood. “I'm looking forward to it,” he explained in a low voice. It was ridiculous considering the fact that he was standing between two infant carriers while trying to sound seductive.

Tauriel only rolled her eyes at him, then she climbed the front steps to their cabin, crossing the front porch, taking a deep breath, putting the key in the key hole. Fili zoomed in on her (and if the camera was focussed on her perfect bum for a second, it was totally intentional). 

Then she turned the key and pushed the door open. Fili held his breath. He didn't know why, but he felt overexcited. The cabin's inside was too dark to see anything, though. The landlord must have closed all the window shutters to prevent the heat from invading the cabin. Automatically, he also climbed the steps in order to have a better view. 

“It's awesome,” Tauriel whispered, stepping inside. 

Fili, right behind her, just nodded. The front door led to a rather spacious living room with a three-seater and a two-seater couch in beige, two crimson armchairs, a dark-brown wooden coffee-table and a wooden side table of the same colour, a huge, light-brown dining room table made from solid wood with eight matching chairs, several light-brown wooden cupboards and dark-brown wooden shelves along the walls. Two white doors suggested that there were more rooms they had yet to explore. Tauriel headed for the doors. Then she opened the left one. It led to a small corridor with two more white doors and a wooden staircase. For some reason, the corridor and stairs gave Fili the chills.

“I assume that the staircase leads to the upper bedrooms and bathroom whereas these two doors here lead to the downstairs bedroom and bathroom,” Tauriel concluded, again opening the left door. According to the landlord's homepage, the cabin was made for six to eight people, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room as well as a front porch and a patio.

There really was a large bedroom behind that door, complete with an enormous four-poster bed, a huge wardrobe, a sideboard, a vanity unit (all made from mahogany), an antique looking white baby crib and a matching rocking chair. 

“Well, I guess that is your honeymoon suite, then,” Fili commented. It was secluded enough and it already contained a crib.

Tauriel smiled at him. “If you insist,” she simply said, before adding, “and the bed is big enough for three.” Fili coughed. Suddenly his throat felt really dry. Did she actually imply him sharing Kíli's and her bed? Even after the wedding? 

Then she turned towards the other door. Behind it was a large bathroom, with a toilet, a basin, a bathtub. The wall tiles were candy pink whereas the floor tiles were lemon-coloured, the toilet, basin and bathtub as well as the shelves and the medicine cabinet were white.

Tauriel turned towards him. “Shall we go upstairs now? Or shall we wait for the others? Honestly, I don't know why they haven't followed us by now!” she exclaimed.

Fili snorted. “Maybe they are afraid that there is an axe-murderer hiding in here somewhere and they want to wait until we make it out alive,” he suggested.

Tauriel smiled at him. “Well, in that case I refuse to go any further without backup. I have two little babies, after all, who would sorely miss their mother – especially since I'm still breast-feeding them,” she answered. Involuntarily, Fili focused his camera on her rather voluptuous décolleté then. He wasn't an expert, but during her pregnancy her breasts had more than doubled in size.

Tauriel cleared her throat and Fili focused the camera on her pretty face again. “Sorry, I just got distracted by your ample breasts.” 

Tauriel laughed her melodic laugh. “Typically. But make sure to save some of your appreciation for later, Kili and I missed you dearly last night – he might be my husband now but you are still my lover...” she said winking at him while showing the inside of her right wrist. Yes, his name still adorned her creamy skin (and her name his), reminding them of their promise all those months ago. Then she headed back through the door that led to the living room. 

Fili could feel his blood rushing southwards. The last time he had sex with her was four months ago. She wasn't allowed to have sexual intercourse during the last months of her pregnancy due to the risk of premature labour (yet, in the end, the twins were born too early after all) and during the post-partum period she still wasn't allowed (and definitely not in the mood) to have sex for at least six to eight weeks due to the risk of infection and injury (her cervix had to close, the lochia to stop and her perineal suture to heal). 

That was the reason why Tauriel and Kili had set the wedding date for June. After Kili's (at least for her) unexpected proposal in the delivery room, directly after she had given birth to Rory and Teddy, they wanted to wait long enough so that they could have a real wedding night, but not too long. 

Fili wasn't jealous that Kili and Tauriel now officially belonged together. Kili had talked to him before asking her, explaining how strongly he felt for her, that he wanted to make their relationship official, but that it wouldn't mean he wanted to exclude his brother from the relationship. 

“If it were possible, I would ask her to marry not only me but also you. But it isn't. And I want to call her my wife, not my girlfriend or lover. But if it bothers you, Fee, I will not ask her to marry me!” Kili had declared and as a response, Fili had pulled his younger brother close, pressing their foreheads together.

“It doesn't bother me. Yet I love her as well. Maybe in a different way than you do, but still as strong. I will step back whenever necessary, but I want you to remember that I am still part of this relationship!” he had explained to his little brother. Kili had smiled at him and then he had pressed a quick kiss to Fili’s lips – something he hadn't done since he had been twelve years old and which had earned them a scolding from their mother then, when she had been witness to it (“Kili! It isn't proper! You are no little boy anymore and you can't kiss your almost grown-up brother on the mouth! And Fili, don't encourage him!”), so Kili hadn't kissed him again ever since (though it didn't stop him from climbing into Fili’s bed from time to time to cuddle up with him, but it was all totally innocent, nothing sexual had ever transpired between them).

“Are you coming or what?”, Tauriel called from the living room.

“Coming!” Fili answered. 

He took a last shot of the bathroom and the bedroom, the gloomy corridor and stairs, then he followed his sister-in-law. When he re-entered the living room, he could see that the others were also already inspecting the cabin, standing close together as if being afraid of someone or something attacking them when leaving the group. Relieved he noticed that either Kili or one of the others had placed the baby carriers with their precious cargo on the two-seater couch.

Fili didn't know why, but suddenly he thought that maybe they should have taken their mother's (and Tauriel's and Legolas's mother's) offer to look after the babies while Kili and Tauriel were enjoying their honeymoon (together with some friends and family members, but who cared about that detail). Somehow this idyllic cabin in the woods left him with a bad feeling about what might or could happen.

Right on cue, Teddy started crying. 

Before Fili could put his camera down and go over to his son, Kili beat him to it. 

“Shh, little prince, Daddy's here, no need to cry!” Kili cooed, lifting the baby out of his carrier, holding him gently in his arms. For a moment, Fili was jealous.  _Teddy is mine!_ he thought possessively. Then he snapped out of it. Where did that thought come from? Never before had he problems with sharing. Why now?

When he caught a glimpse at Kíli's happy face, his sparkling eyes, he felt really bad. His little brother really seemed to thrive since he was a father (and uncle). Even though Teddy didn't seem to calm down, despite Kili's best efforts. In an instant, Tauriel was at his side.

“I think he is hungry. It's past lunchtime, after all.” 

Saying that, she took the baby into her arms, then added, “I'll go over to the bedroom to feed him, there is a rocking chair and I don't want to bother anyone because I'm breast-feeding, so...” 

She just shrugged, heading for the doors that were leading to the corridor.

Fili had a bad feeling, leaving her alone.

“Wait! I'm coming with you,” he explained. Tauriel looked at him, raising an eyebrow, while the others just looked surprised (like Kili, Sigrid, Ori, and Legolas) or snorted (Gimli). 

Fili felt that he had to explain his motivation.

“Well, Tauriel and I joked about an axe-murderer hiding somewhere in this house, I just want to keep her and my... our son save!”

Kili giggled. “So how do you want to defend them? Hit the attacker over the head with your camera?” he asked.

Fili shrugged. “For example,” he responded.

In that moment, little Rory started to cry. Tauriel sighed.

“Make yourself useful, then, and bring Rory with you. She is also hungry and needs to be fed,” she said.

Fili nodded and did as he was told.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	2. First Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The hot, scented water felt too good."  
> Fíli, Kíli and Tauriel are taking a bath. Tauriel and Kíli have a surprise for Fíli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank GrammarGrrrl for being my beta.  
> Hopefully, you all enjoy reading this chapter!

The hot, scented water felt too good. Fili leant back in the tub (though it really was too small for three grown-up people), closing his eyes, sighing contentedly. He could hear Tauriel and Kili giggling and whispering with each other.

Then he felt someone tapping his thigh. Opening his eyes, he could see that it was Kili. Fili shot a questioning look at his brother, who just winked at him. “I'll be right back!” he explained, exiting the tub.

When Fili’s gaze fell on Tauriel, he could see her shrugging, then moving over to him, leaning her back against his broad chest. For some reason, this gesture touched him. When thinking back to all the other women he and Kili had shared (actually it had been six in total – if he didn't count the one-night-stands), sooner or later the girls would prefer either his or his brother's company. And, honestly, after Kíli's confession that he wished to marry Tauriel and her accepting of the proposal, Fili had already gotten used to the thought that her affection towards him might have cooled down. But her behaviour today hinted at something completely different.

So he just wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her close, kissing her neck. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Tauriel turned halfway towards him. “For what?” she asked, her green eyes sparkling.

Fili kissed her temple, then he answered, “For being such an amazing woman and giving birth to my son.”

Tauriel, still halfway facing him, raised an eyebrow. “Only your son? What about your daughter?”

Fili understood what she meant. He and Kili had refrained from DNA testing in order to find out who had fathered which child. For them – especially for Kili – both Teddy and Rory were their children. Nevertheless, since Rory had Tauriel's red hair and Kíli's brown eyes (and no one else in their direct family had brown eyes, neither their grandparents nor their mother or uncles, except from Kíli's biological father), Fili was sure that Rory was completely Kíli's.

“You know what I mean,” he answered and Tauriel nodded.

“Yeah, I know. And I totally agree with you. Call it a mother's intuition, but I'm sure that Teddy is yours whereas Rory is Kíli's. But don't tell him, please,” she begged.

“I won't,” Fili promised, kissing her temple again.

They fell silent after that exchange, just being content to be close to each other.

Then Kili came back. He was carrying a tablet with a bottle of pink champagne (Tauriel's favourite), three glasses and a small, dark grey box. Fili scowled at his younger brother. “You know that she can't drink alcohol since she is breast-feeding our children!”

Kili, wearing a blue and grey striped bathrobe, just rolled his eyes while Tauriel caught Fili’s attention by slightly scratching her nails over his thigh.

“I've already expressed enough milk for tonight and tomorrow morning, so I'm allowed to have one or two glasses of champagne... We have something to celebrate, after all,” she explained.

Fili would never forget Kíli's smug smile, conveying that he wasn't as immature and irresponsible as Fili might have thought.

So, Fili cleared his throat. “What do we have to celebrate, then? It isn't Tauriel's birthday yet, we already drank to your wedding yesterday and the birth of our little ones has been celebrated several times... So, what's the occasion?”

Fili saw that Kili and Tauriel were exchanging a look. Then Kili poured champagne for each of them, handing out the glasses to Tauriel and Fili (Tauriel was also holding Kíli's so that he could shed his bathrobe, grab the box and climb back into the tub with them).

When Kili was also settled in the bathtub, he took his glass from Tauriel while placing the box on the bathtub's rim. “Let's drink to us and what we have!” he simply stated. They clinked glasses, then drank. Afterwards, he placed the champagne glass on the bathtub's rim, reaching for the box. His gaze was focussed on Tauriel the whole time, as Fili noticed. Then Tauriel nodded and Kili handed the box over to Fili. “Open it,” he ordered.

Raising an eyebrow, Fili obeyed. Then he gasped. Inside the box was a ring, similar to the ones Tauriel and Kili had exchanged the day before during their wedding ceremony.

“Please tell me that this is not what I think...” he started, but Kíli's grin and Tauriel's smile made him stop. It was exactly that. And when he checked the engraving, on the outside, it read “ _Et nunc et semper, omnia vincit amor._ ” On the inside, their names were engraved, “ _Fili & Kili & Tauriel, 6_ _th_ _December, 2015_.” It was the date he and his brother had met Tauriel for the first time.

Fili was at a loss for words. “Oh my, guys, you are awesome!”

“It's the same engraving like in Tauriel's and my wedding bands – she wouldn't have it any other way...” Kili explained.

Fili felt awful. Since Kíli's proposal he had silently accused Tauriel of choosing his brother over him, based on what he had known so far. And now she was totally surprising him. Therefore, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him. He saw the raw expression in her eyes and couldn't hold back any longer, capturing her lips with his, kissing her passionately. When they broke apart, panting, he exclaimed, “I love you, Tauriel, more than words can express!”

She met his gaze, saying “Show me, then!”

Whatever self-restrained he had was dissolved with those words. He showed her how much he loved, how much he desired her by pulling her down onto his lap. She gasped and pressed her nails into his shoulder when he guided himself inside of her.

“Careful, brother, she is still a little bit sore from giving birth to our children – and, well, maybe last night. You have to treat her gently,” Kili whispered into his ear.

And the fact that Kili didn't mind his brother having his way with his wife was like an aphrodisiac to Fili. Although he had to hold back a little bit (since he didn't want to hurt her) he experienced pure bliss, simply by joining his body with (his sister-in-law's? his best friend's? his lover's?) Tauriel's and he made sure that she was also enjoying it (and he was surprised when her breasts ejected some milk due to sexual arousal and stimulation, whereas Kili just encouraged him to taste it, like he had the previous night, as he confessed).

Afterwards, Fili was holding her close, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. And she clung to him. It was as if nothing had changed, as if she wasn't wearing his brother's ring on her finger. And he hers. Yet there was also another ring, a third one, waiting for him.

He reached out his hand to grab the box again, contemplating the meaning of this ring and the engraving.

“So, you want me to be a part of your marriage then?” he asked Tauriel and Kili.

They exchanged a look, then Kili answered, “Well, maybe not a part of our marriage, but a part of our relationship. You said so yourself, that you are still a part of this relationship and even if you didn't say it, our tattoos would be proof to this; we are wearing each other's names on our wrists. And as I told you before, if it were possible, I would have asked her to marry you and me. But since it isn't possible...” He didn't finish, just shrugging his shoulders.

“And believe me, Fili, if it were possible, I would have married not only Kili, but also you. But with this ring, I thought I could convey to you that you are important to me, to us!” Tauriel explained.

“Yeah, we are not complete without you,” Kili added and he looked so lost and adorable at that moment, that Fili just pulled him close (while Tauriel was still sitting in his lap), pressing their foreheads together (as much as it was possible with Tauriel between them).

Then they all winced when they heard a wailing over the audio baby monitor. One of their little ones had obviously woken up and demanded attention.

Tauriel sighed. “Maybe it's time to leave this sanctuary and face reality,” she explained, supporting her weight on Fili’s shoulders, lifting herself from his lap. Gasping, as he slipped out of her. Fili drew his eyebrows together.

“You all right?” he asked.

Tauriel nodded, blushing slightly. “Yeah, just sore, like Kili said. I'm afraid I will have to refrain from such activities for the next couple of days.”

She climbed gracefully out of the tub, reaching for one of the white, fluffy towels, wrapping her body in it. Fili followed her retreating figure with his eyes and, looking at his brother, he could see that he was doing the same.

Fili cleared his throat. “Come on, Kee, let's get out of the water as well, it's constantly cooling down and without her, it isn't as much fun.”

Saying that, he also climbed out of the tub (less gracefully than her), grabbed another towel and threw a third one at his brother who had reluctantly stood up.

“Let's help her with our babies, Kee,” he said encouragingly and, wrapping the towel around his waist, left the bathroom.

When he entered the bedroom (fortunately the bathroom not only had a door leading to the corridor that gave Fili the creeps, but also a connecting door to the bedroom), Tauriel was sitting in the rocking chair, little Rory in her arms, quietly singing a lullaby (and Fili recognized the melody because she had been humming it to their children several times by now, but never before had he heard the lyrics). However, he couldn't understand it.

“What language is this?” he asked. Tauriel winced. She had obviously been so focused on her task to calm Rory down that she didn't notice him entering (which was strange because normally her senses were really sharp).

Understanding that it was just him, she sighed with relief.

“You scared me,” she scolded him.

Fili smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, wasn't my intention,” he answered, walking over to the rocking chair, kneeling down next to her, looking at Rory, who seemed to have fallen asleep again.

Carefully he reached out his hand, gently stroking her fine, red curls.

“So?” he asked.

“So what?” Tauriel asked back.

Fili smiled at her, looking deeply into her eyes. “That lullaby you sung for our little girl. What language is it?”

Tauriel smiled back at him. “It's Russian. My mother used to sing that lullaby for Legolas and me when we couldn't sleep or had bad dreams or were ill. Her mother – my grandmother – had sung it to her as well when she was little,” she explained.

Fili raised his eyebrows. “Russian? Your mother is Russian?” That piece of information surprised him. He had already met Tauriel's mother on several occasions (after Tauriel had finally told her about her pregnancy, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her daughter).

Tauriel's smile broadened. “Well, she was born and bred in this country, but my grand-parents immigrated when my grandmother was already six months pregnant with my mother.”

She stood up, carefully placing her daughter in the currently unoccupied crib (actually there were two cribs in the bedroom now, Gimli had helped Fili to carry down the other crib from his and Legolas's bedroom).

Then she shed the towel and started to get dressed for the night. Fili thought that it was a good idea and followed her example (actually, Kili and Tauriel had insisted he put his clothes and other things in this bedroom, not one of the upstairs bedrooms of which there were three: one bedroom containing another king-sized bed (which was occupied by Gimli and Legolas), the other one had two queens (that was the room Ori and Sigrid took) and the third just a bunk bed (Fili had thought that this would be his bedroom, but Kili and Tauriel had other ideas).

When they were wearing their nightclothes (chequered boxers and a t-shirt for Fili, black yoga pants and a grey tank top for Tauriel), Kili entered the bedroom as well.

“What took you so long?” Fili asked his brother.

Kili rolled his eyes. “I cleaned up the bathroom. Honestly, did you think it would do it all by itself?”

Fili had to admit that Kili was right. Yet it was an unusual scenario to imagine his little brother doing any cleaning up without being told so. Maybe being a father really helped him to grow up and take over responsibility.

“Well, thank you. I would have been too exhausted to help anyway. Actually I'm looking forward to just lie down and fall asleep – assumed that the bed is as comfortable as it looks!” Tauriel explained while brushing out her hair (she had been wearing it in a top bun while they were taking their bath, now she just let it fall down her back and over her shoulders).

Kili chuckled. “I'm also really tired... didn't get that much sleep last night,” he said winking.

Tauriel, now settling down on the bed, pulling the covers over her, rolled her eyes but didn't reply. It was Fili who answered his brother, saying, “So that was the reason why you wouldn't let me sleep? Calling every two hours? Some kind of revenge because I'm still a bachelor whereas you already tied the knot?”

Before Kili (who was getting dressed for the night as well) could react, Tauriel commented sleepily, “Well, don't forget about the ring. You are bound to us.”

Fili remembered. Yes, Tauriel and Kili had gifted him with a ring, similar to their wedding bands. And if he remembered correctly, the ring was still in the bathroom.

“Erm, I think I left the ring in the bathroom,” he confessed.

Tauriel, who had been half asleep, suddenly opened her eyes.

“What?” she asked, scandalized.

Fili blushed. “Yeah, well, I was totally overwhelmed by today's events. So, no wonder I forgot about the ring, knowing that there is a beautiful young woman waiting for me in her bedroom,” he tried to charm Tauriel. The young woman, however, just snorted.

“Yeah, sure, especially since this beautiful young woman declared that there wouldn't be any sex for the next couple of days and only went to the bedroom in order to tend to her babies.”

Kili was doubling over with laughter. “I swear it, brother, she is too clever for us!”

Fili rolled his eyes. “Well, speak for yourself, brother!” he shot back, heading for the connecting door to the bathroom to get his ring while he could still hear Kili's laughter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Latin translations:  
> Et nunc et semper: Now and forever.  
> Omnia vincit amor: Love conquers all.


	3. Next Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fíli and Tauriel talk. Then Fíli snaps at Ori. Afterwards there is some brotherly bonding time between Fíli and Kíli before Tauriel and Fíli talk again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to thank GrammarGrrrl for being my beta!  
> Furthermore, I'd like to thank everybody else who is interested in my stories, reads them, leaves kudos and comments.  
> Thanks, guys!

As always, Fili was the first one to wake up; despite the fact that the babies demanded to be fed and have their diapers changed several times during the night, which was done by the brothers because they felt that Tauriel needed her rest.

So he disentangled himself from a sleeping Tauriel and Kili to go out onto the patio where they all had a barbecue the previous evening.

Fili lit his cigarette, smoking happily; it was his first cigarette in about ten hours. He hadn't been in the mood to go out onto the porch or the patio all by himself last night, and he didn't want to take Kili with him because a part of him didn't want to leave Tauriel and the little ones alone.

Fili took in his surroundings. The forest – which was fittingly called “ _Mirkwood_ ” – really seemed to be like a solid mass, rather than consisting of several trees. A shiver ran down his spine. _If I ever got lost in those woods, I would never find my way out_ , he thought. Luckily, the cabin itself was built on a clearing, so there was enough daylight illuminating the premises. A driveway was leading up to the house from the street and a path was leading down from the property into the forest. According to Tauriel, it led to a small lake and one of the many hiking trails.

Fili took a deep breath. The morning air was fresh and fragrant, promising another warm and sunny summer day. It was not yet eight o'clock and there were no sounds except from birds chirping in the trees and small animals scurrying around in the undergrowth. Everything seemed to be so peaceful. They all could do with some peace and quiet after the events that happened only a couple of months ago...

Before his thoughts drifted into that direction, he was roused from his musings because somebody put their hands over his eyes from behind. Well, there were only two people in this world who would dare to do this and since he couldn't smell licorice and leather – his brother's typical scent – but vanilla and jasmine, he immediately knew who it was.

“Good morning, Tauriel,” he simply said.

The beautiful redhead just made a frustrated sound, taking her hands off his eyes, moving in front of him.

“How did you figure out it was me?” she asked.

Fili smiled, taking another drag from his cigarette. “Your scent gave you away.”

Tauriel frowned. “Are you saying that I smell?” she asked unbelievingly.

Fili chuckled, shaking his head. “No. Well, at least not in the negative sense of the word. I could smell your scent, not my brother's, so I knew it was you.”

This answer seemed to satisfy her. She just nodded.

“That makes sense. You also smell differently from Kili, you know,” she explained.

Fili cocked an eyebrow, “Yeah? Although we are brothers?”

Tauriel smiled at him, “Yes, definitely.”

She reached out her hand to push a stray blond curl from his face, and he captured her fingers in his, pressing a soft kiss to her palm.

“I'm sorry,” he finally said.

Tauriel drew her eyebrows together.

“Sorry for what?” she wanted to know, looking deeply into his eyes.

Fili sighed. “You know, when you accepted Kili's proposal, I thought that it happened again, that you were just another girl who preferred my brother, although we had all agreed on being in this relationship together. It wouldn't have been the first time,” he confessed.

“Do you think me so fickle?” she asked breathlessly, trying to pull her hand away.

Fili’s grip on her hand only intensified, even trying to pull her closer, but she resisted and so he finally released her hand, sighing.

“No, not now at least. You proved to be cut from a different cloth than the other girls. You really surprised me last night, you know, insisting on me having a similar ring with the same engravings like Kili's and yours, even allowing me to make love to you, although you are married to my brother,” he explained.

Tauriel smiled again, taking his hand into hers, entwining their fingers.

“Of course,” she said, “nothing has changed between us. Only that I am now sharing your family name!”

She was right. Although a lot of independent young women were insisting on keeping their maiden name after their wedding, she changed hers to _'Goldberg_ '. That fact led to Fili’s next question; a question he almost didn't dare to ask.

Nevertheless, he cleared his throat, holding her gaze, while inquiring, “What if I had asked you first to marry me? Would you also have agreed to my proposal?”

For a moment, the whole forest seemed to have fallen silent, waiting for her response (at least it seemed like that to Fili who couldn't perceive anything else but his own heartbeat and her breathing while he felt like drowning in the depths of her eyes, as wild and impenetrable as those woods surrounding them).

“Do you really want to know the answer?” she whispered.

For a moment, Fili was tempted to say yes, either receiving confirmation for his suspicion that Tauriel really preferred Kili or finding out that his cowardice and chivalry were to blame for letting his opportunity slip to become the husband of the most amazing woman in the whole world.

Then he decided against it.

“No,” he declared, “it wouldn’t change anything now, would it? You are married to Kili.”

Saying that, he grinded out his cigarette in the ashtray that was still sitting on the garden table, a relic of last night's merry gathering, freeing his hand from hers, going back inside the cabin while he could still feel her green eyes on him.

Upon entering the kitchen (which led out onto the patio) he noticed that Sigrid and Ori had also woken up in the meantime, even started preparing breakfast. Ori was already properly dressed, wearing beige Bermuda shorts and a dark blue t-shirt whereas Sigrid was still in her nightclothes (yellow and light-blue striped sleeping shorts and a light-blue top).

“Good morning!” Fili announced his presence.

Both of his friends turned towards him, Ori smiling shyly, Sigrid raising an eyebrow, saying, “Why are you blaming Tauriel for her decision?”

Fili coughed. Did it mean that Sigrid and Ori had been witness to his and Tauriel's conversation?

“Excuse me, what?” he shot back.

Sigrid rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, you know what I mean. You are pissed that Tauriel married Kili instead of you. But let me tell you something, Mr Hesitant: If you don't show your real feelings towards a woman, she will always opt for the one who is straightforward about his intentions!”

Saying that, she stormed out of the kitchen, onto the patio, certainly fraternizing with Tauriel. ( _But is it really called fraternizing when only females are involved?_ Fili asked himself.).

He looked questioningly at Ori, but his younger cousin simply shrugged, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry, but we couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I don't know why Sigrid is so furious about the way you are treating Tauriel...”

Fili interrupted him. “The way I'm treating Tauriel? Tell me, cousin, how am I treating her?” he asked challenging.

Ori obviously started feeling uncomfortable. “I don't know... maybe as if you are blaming her for wearing Kíli's ring on her finger? She decided to become his wife, not yours, after all.”

Fili snorted. “This is nobody else's business, but Tauriel's, Kíli's and mine!”

Stepping closer to Ori, who tried to back away but couldn't because the kitchen counter was right behind him, Fili showed him his left hand.

“Do you see that? This ring? Kili and Tauriel gave it to me last night, right before I had sex with my brother's wife! And Kili approved. I am also part of this relationship and it was Tauriel who wanted to make sure that I don't feel left out because she insisted on me having the same ring she and Kili are wearing as wedding bands! So, I would be glad if you and your fiancée don't meddle in our affairs!”

He turned on his heel, storming out of the kitchen towards the living room, opening the door that led to the corridor from which he could reach their – yes, his and Tauriel's and Kíli's – bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

The noise woke up Kili and their babies, who immediately started crying.

“What?” Kili asked, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

Fili sighed. “Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up, or scare the babies.”

He immediately turned towards the cribs. Instinctively he wanted to tend to Teddy, the child he was convinced to be his, but then he turned towards little Rory, their little princess, with his lover's hair and his brother's eyes. As soon as he lifted her up, she stopped crying, looking at him with big brown eyes, trying to smile. Fili had a déjà-vu, remembering another baby with the same eyes, but black-brown curls, reacting similar to him, although he had only been a child then...

“I swear, Fee, Teddy looks like you,” Kili suddenly said, standing next to Fili, lifting the crying little boy out of his crib.

For some reason that comment touched Fili deeply. Even Kili seemed to admit that Teddy was his son. Then, Kili did something completely unexpected by pulling Fili close, resting his forehead against his brother's, while they were holding their babies.

“You know I love you, don't you? More than anything else in this world... well, except from our children... and Tauriel... and our mother...” Kili confessed.

Fili closed his eyes, smiling. Of course he knew. He felt the same, since the first time he had seen his baby brother. So he had been the one to change Kíli's leg compresses every hour when his little brother had suffered from pneumonia at the age of five, he had been the one to change his brothers bedclothes whenever he had wetted them after a nightmare at the age of seven and was afraid to tell their mother, the one who had given everybody a bloody nose who had dared to call his little brother a mummy's boy and a pansy while pushing him around in the schoolyard at the age of thirteen because in their eyes Kili had been too lanky and too pretty (although Fili had been called to the headmaster's office for that and was suspended from school for a week, like the other boys who were involved in the brawl, but in Fili’s eyes it had been totally worth it).

“Love you too, little brother,” Fili simply answered, and that was it, everything they needed to confess to each other. For a moment they remained like that, enjoying each other's company while they were holding their still crying babies. Then the door to their bedchamber opened; it was Tauriel.

“Are they hungry?” she asked. Fili and Kili exchanged a look.

“Well, we don't know...” Fili confessed.

Tauriel drew her eyebrows together. “Honestly, what kind of fathers are you?” she scolded, taking both babies into her arms, going over to the rocking chair, sitting down. “The milk is in the fridge, I can't breast-feed them now due to the champagne last night, remember? You need to warm it up,” she explained.

Fili and Kili exchanged a look, and after a slight nod from Fili, Kili followed Tauriel's instructions while Fili walked over to Tauriel, sitting down on the bed, facing her. She didn't acknowledge his presence, looking affectionately at her children while humming the Russian lullaby to them, rocking in the chair. Being a mother really suited her and Fili loved watching (and filming) her tending to their babies. Especially because they always seemed to immediately calm down as soon as Tauriel was holding them.

Well, not this time.

Little Rory had indeed stopped crying and was looking fascinatingly at her mother's face, although she had trouble keeping her eyes open. Apparently she wasn't hungry, just upset because Fili had slammed the door shut.

Little Teddy, however, was still crying, tears streaming down his face, kicking his chubby arms and legs.

“Can you please take your son for a while, Fili? I don't want him to unsettle Rory again. She is almost asleep,” Tauriel finally said.

“Yeah, sure,” Fili answered, standing up, taking the baby from her arms, then sitting back down on the bed. For a moment it seemed that Teddy was calming down as soon as he was in Fili’s arms, looking curiously at his father's face, before starting crying again.

“I don't know what's wrong with him. Before yesterday, I could have sworn that Rory was less calm than Teddy, but now...” Tauriel didn't finish her sentence, just shrugged her shoulders.

Fili knew what she meant. Whereas Rory had only woken up once during the night because she was hungry and needed fresh diapers, Teddy had woken up four times, but only once he needed to be fed and have his diapers changed. The other times he had just demanded his fathers' attention, keeping Fili and Kili really busy.

Finally, Kili had had the idea to take the baby with them into their bed so that he could feel the closeness to all his parents, which fortunately calmed him down a bit.

“Maybe he doesn't like the cabin,” Fili mumbled, cradling his son.

Tauriel looked at him, drawing her eyebrows together.

“Why would you say that?” she asked.

Fili shrugged. “It just popped into my head. But he is certainly just hungry.”

Tauriel studied him for a moment, then she nodded. They remained silent for a while, Teddy's wailing and the rocking chair's creaking the only sounds in the room. Then Rory was fast asleep and Tauriel got up in order to place the baby in her crib. Afterwards she settled down next to Fili on the bed, reaching out her hand to caress her son's chubby cheek.

Fili had the feeling that she wanted to say something but didn't know how to.

“What's up?” he finally asked quietly.

Tauriel took a deep breath, folding both hands in her lap.

“Kili told me something about my engagement ring on our wedding night...”

She fell silent again, playing with the white golden band, adorned by a pure white, star-shaped diamond.

Fili could feel his heart beating faster. “Yeah?” he just remarked.

“Yeah,” she answered, taking another deep breath, then she sighed.

“Why didn't you tell me that you bought it together with him? That it was chosen and paid for by both of you?”

This time it was Fili who shrugged. “Is that so important?”

Tauriel took his face between her hands, forcing him gently to look at her.

“For me it is,” she simply said and they looked deeply into each other's eyes before Tauriel leaned towards him, kissing him softly on the lips.

Then she stood up from the bed.

“I'll go and check what is taking Kili so long, honestly, he just has to heat the bottle up. Poor Teddy is going to starve before his Daddy shows up with the milk.”

Fili chuckled about her comment.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concerning the timeline, this story is set in June, 2017.  
> Tauriel is almost 32, Fíli is 30, and Kíli is still 25.  
> Tauriel's birthday is in June, Fíli's in April, Kíli's in October.  
> I hope you enjoyed reading it!  
> Please let me know what you think.


	4. Drama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tauriel and Kíli fight. Then Kíli runs into the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl, for her wonderful work!  
> In addition, I'd like to thank all my readers for being interested in this story, especially those of you who leave kudos and/or comments!  
> Thank you so much for your support.

When Tauriel entered the kitchen, she saw Kili talking animatedly to Gimli and Legolas while Ori was making scrambled eggs and pancakes – and was heating up two feeding milk bottles.

“Kili!” she called in a serious tone.

He froze, then slowly turned into her direction.

“Hey, darling, did you miss me?” he tried to flirt, beaming at her.

This time, however, it had no effect on her. She was simply standing there, on the threshold to the kitchen, her arms folded in front of her chest, scowling. Kili swallowed and looked as if he were rather anywhere else.

“Can you tell me what you are doing?” she demanded to know.

“Erm, I went to the kitchen to heat up the milk for our babies, but then I ran into Gimli and Legolas who came down for breakfast and somehow we started talking about our crazy dreams...” he tried to defend himself.

Tauriel didn't want to hear his ridiculous excuses, so she raised her hand in order to make him stop talking, and he obeyed.

“Save your excuses! I was sitting in the bedroom with two crying babies and waiting for you to bring the baby bottles. Fortunately, Rory has calmed down – apparently she wasn't hungry. But Teddy is still crying because his Daddy totally forgot about him! You are my husband now. I need to be able to rely on you. And you completely left me alone!”

Kili was pouting.

“You weren't alone. Fili was helping you,” he remarked.

“Yes, he was. Maybe I should have married him instead of you!” she shot back.

“Maybe. But he would've never had the guts to ask you!” she could hear Kili yelling after her as she stormed out of the kitchen, really angry.

A part of her felt bad for scolding Kili in front of their friends and family, patronizing him. Yet another part of her thought that he deserved it – if he wanted to behave like a child, she would treat him like one.

Still fuming, she re-entered the bedroom. Fili, who was now cradling two crying babies, turned towards her.

“What happened?” he asked.

Tauriel took a deep breath, flopping down on the bed.

“Kili,” was all that she said, looking yearningly at her babies. She wanted to go over to them and take them into her arms because it always comforted her to smell and feel her little son and her litte daughter. However, she was still too upset and feared that she would unsettle them – they always seemed to sense how she was feeling and reacted to it.

Fili sighed. “Let me guess: He got distracted and forgot to heat up the feeding milk bottles.”

Tauriel nodded. “Yeah.”

Fili sighed, coming over to her, sitting down next to her.

“He doesn't do such things on purpose, you know. When he was nine, his primary school teacher assumed that he had an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder because of his bad performance in school, his inattentiveness, his restlessness. She recommended we should talk to his paediatrician about some treatment, like behavioural therapy, medication, change of diet, but mama would have none of it. She said that Kili was just a special child and the teacher simply didn't know him the way we did. And that was it, mama refused to believe that Kili had ADHD and we never talked to a paediatrician or any other doctor – not even Oin – about it. However, I did some research on my own and I fear I would agree with his teacher,” he explained.

Tauriel was thunderstruck.

“Why didn't you tell me earlier? I think I should have known about this before...”

She interrupted herself before she could say something that she would regret later.

“Before what?” Fili asked.

Tauriel took a deep breath. She needed to be honest.

“Before I decided to have his child, before I married him.”

Saying that she got up from the bed, heading for the bathroom. Knowing that her babies were in good hands, she needed some time alone. After taking a shower and brushing her teeth, she left the bathroom, only wrapped in a towel. When she entered the bedroom, she saw that it was empty, no sign of Fili, Kili or the babies. Tauriel was grateful for that.

While getting dressed, she couldn't help but notice how swollen and heavy her breasts were; she really should have expressed milk after getting up since she didn't breastfeed her children during the night. Tauriel swore that she would never drink alcohol again for as long as she was nursing her son and her daughter in order to avoid all the trouble it entailed.

Yet she had somehow wanted to repeat her wedding night, this time with both brothers, showing Fili that she still loved him, that she needed and wanted him, that Kili was still fine with sharing her. Hence the champagne and the ring. Actually, she and Kili had planned to officially put the ring on Fili's finger while in the tub, enjoying each other's company, renewing their vows from last year when Tauriel got her tattoos. Then she somehow got distracted...

Although Kili had really tired her out on their wedding night, Tauriel needed to feel Fili inside of her, needed to be connected to him in the most intimate of ways. Admittedly, she would have preferred it to happen in the huge four poster bed, not in the tub, but her need for him had overwhelmed her and she had wanted him immediately, and Fili had obliged. She would have loved to go another round later, but her soreness had prevented her from even considering it.

When Tauriel left the bedroom and entered the corridor, she felt a shiver running down her spine. It appeared as if the corridor was several degrees colder than the other rooms. Furthermore, it always seemed to be gloomy. So she hurried to the living room.

Tauriel immediately noticed the tense atmosphere. Legolas and Sigrid appeared to be calming down an agitated Gimli and Ori, while Rory and Teddy were peacefully sleeping in their carriers.

“Tauriel, finally! You really upset Kili with your outburst. He stormed out of the cabin right into the woods, without getting properly dressed, wearing just his boxers, a t-shirt and flip-flops and he didn't take a map or any water with him, I tried to stop him, I really did, but he said he needed some time alone, to cool off!” Ori informed her.

Tauriel felt her heart missing a beat. “What?” she asked completely shocked.

“Yeah, and what is worse, when Fili learned about it, he left Rory and Teddy in our care, told us to feed them – which we did – and then he ran after Kili, also not taking anything with him,” Sigrid explained.

Suddenly, Tauriel felt dizzy. Swaying, she needed to grab the door frame in order to steady herself. She knew these woods. They were dangerous, especially when you had a bad sense of direction, like Kili (something he had inherited from his uncle, as he had confessed to her). Every year several people went missing in the woods, some of them were never found, others were found dead (admittedly, some people were also found alive). If anything happened to Fili and Kili... It would be her fault. She couldn't imagine a life without them, not anymore, not after she was the mother of their children.

“Tauriel? You alright?” Legolas asked, rushing to her side, supporting her.

Tauriel nodded. “Yeah, it's just...” She didn't finish the sentence because she didn't really know what she actually wanted to say. Her brother led her over to the couch, forcing her to sit down.

“I'll get you some water!” he declared and left the room, only to return shortly after with a glass of water. Tauriel drank automatically.

“We need to do something,” she whispered.

“We already did; we called the rangers' station. They told us to stay here while they would patrol the hiking trails, also keeping an eye on the spinney, trying to find them, especially since we informed them that Kili just got married and is a new dad,” Ori explained.

Tauriel nodded again. She wanted to correct him, saying, that Fili was also a new dad, but she kept quiet. Maybe their relationship was too complicated for others to grasp and that was what had caused all this mess.

“So we'll just sit here and wait?” she asked.

“We'll just sit here and wait,” Sigrid confirmed, then she frowned. “Erm, Tauriel, you have there something on your top.”

When Tauriel looked down her front, she understood what Sigrid meant. She still hadn't expressed the excess milk, so her breasts were leaking. Of course they were, since she took herbal supplements – pills and tea – and ate special foods to increase breast milk production so that she could breastfeed both babies without needing to use formula.

“Oh, shit,” she mumbled, jumping up from the couch, blushing.

She headed for her bedroom in order to pump milk, remembering how carefully and shyly Fili had suckled her breast last night after she had involuntarily ejected some milk during sex, completely different from Kili who had confidently and aggressively latched on to her after the same had happened on their wedding night.

When she was done, she put on a fresh bra, a fresh top and her hiking boots, then she grabbed her phone and went back to her brother and her friends.

“I'm going out there in order to find them,” she stated.

Sigrid and Ori looked at her as if she had lost her mind, Gimli frowned. Legolas, however, studied her for a moment, then he simply said: “I'm coming with you, just let me get my hiking boots.”

Tauriel smiled thankfully at him, rushing to the kitchen in order to get two bottles of water. It wouldn't be the first time that she and her brother went out to explore the forest. Yet it would be the first time they didn't do it for fun.

When she re-entered the living room, Legolas was back, crouching on the floor, lacing up his boots while Gimli was arguing with him.

“Are you completely suicidal? If your crazy sister wants to go out there and look for her lost lovers – fine! It's her fault, after all, that my cousins are stumbling through the wilderness like two lovesick idiots!”

Upon hearing that, Tauriel gasped. That was how Gimli thought about her? Regarding her as some kind of  _femme fatal_ who had only brought harm to Fili and Kili?

Gimli's comment, however, seemed to make Legolas furious. Standing up to his full height, he was towering over the shorter, but stouter Gimli, arms akimbo.

“Never say anything like that about Tauriel again, or I swear to god, Gimli, you and me are history. By the way, it had been your devious cousins who corrupted my sweet sister!”

Tauriel had heard enough. Although she appreciated that Legolas defended her, she didn't like it that he and Gimli were fighting. By now, they all had fought enough, snapping at each other, hurting each other. What once appeared to be a great idea, spending some time together, all of them, had turned sour by now.

So she cleared her throat, arousing the other's attention.

Sigrid and Ori looked uncomfortable, Gimli looked pissed, Legolas sorrowful.

“Ready to go?” she asked her brother, ignoring all the others.

Legolas nodded.

As they were heading to the front door, Sigrid called after them.

“Do you think it wise to go out there, Tauriel? What about your babies?”

For a moment, Tauriel stopped in her tracks, closing her eyes, but she kept her countenance.

“They should be fine. They just fed, as you told me, and there are still two baby bottles with my milk in the fridge. If they get hungry, just heat up the bottles and feed them. I will be back later to nurse them. And I will bring Fili and Kili with me!”

Without looking back, she left the cabin, Legolas right behind her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that wasn't too much drama.  
> Please let me know what you think! I always love it when you share your thoughts with me.


	5. Search and Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli is lost in the wilderness. Will he be found?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl.  
> In addition, I would like to thank all my readers. Your support means the world to me.

 

Kili stumbled through the undergrowth and could feel how the little thorns of the blackberry and raspberry bushes scratched his legs. He didn't care. If he was honest, it didn't even hurt that much, at least not as much as Tauriel's words.

Did she really regret marrying him? Just because he made one mistake? It wasn't as if he totally forgot about the milk for their babies. After Ori had asked him why he had come to the kitchen, he remembered and Ori heated up the bottles for him. So the little ones would have gotten their milk, in any case, maybe a little bit later than planned, but still...

However, Tauriel's scolding was uncalled for. She could have voiced her displeasure about his unreliability and he would have accepted that she was angry with him. However, she didn't need to be so mean to him, telling him that she would have rather married Fili!

Kili could feel tears welling up in his eyes, then running down his cheeks. Angrily he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Yet more tears were coming, blurring his vision, making it difficult for him to find his way through the spinney. He tripped several times but kept his balance until suddenly his foot got caught in a twine and before he could catch his fall, he was hitting the ground, hard. He felt something sharp piercing the skin on his right thigh, a dull pain in his left wrist.

 _Great, Kili, you are even too incompetent to properly run away,_ he told himself, trying to sit up. It seemed to him that he had sprained his wrist, and upon checking he noticed that he had ruptured his thigh on a dried up and stone hard piece of wood. It hurt like hell and bled heavily. Kili pressed his hand to the wound, hoping to be able to stop the bleeding, but it didn't really work. Carefully, he sat up, inspecting his surroundings. Kili was really in the depth of the woods, far away from any hiking trail. What was worse, he didn't take his phone with him. Even if he wasn't injured, it would be difficult for him to find his way home, to find his way back to his brother and his wife and their babies!

Kili started sobbing uncontrollably. Just because he was angry, he ran into the woods and now he was going to die out here! Never again would he be able to embrace Fili or kiss Tauriel or hold Rory and Teddy! He screwed up again, but this time, there was no Fili to put things right because his brother didn't even know where he was.

Kili didn't know how long he had been sitting there, crying, holding his injured leg, when suddenly he heard a voice calling out to him. Kili stopped his sobbing. Was he already hallucinating? No, there was definitely someone calling his name. Kili recognized the voice, he always would, for as long as he lived. It was his brother! Fili had come to save him!

Kili braced himself, then he stood up, trying to make out his brother in the dim light, but couldn't see anything.

“Fili?” he called his brother's name, holding his breath afterwards, waiting for his brother's reply. Then, very quietly, he could hear Fili's voice.

Frantically, Kili looked around, hoping to see his brother, but couldn't. “Fili!” he called again, louder this time.

“Kili, where are you? I can hear you!” came his brother's response.

Kili could feel his heart beating faster. His brother was there, so sooner or later he would find him. Kili just had to make sure that Fili could locate his voice, so he started calling for his brother in regular intervals. Kili was convinced that Fili's voice was drawing nearer, heading right into his direction. Then, finally, Kili could make out his brother's blond, curly hair between the tree trunks and undergrowth, his yellow t-shirt and chequered boxers from last night.

“Fili!” he called, waving his arms, stumbling towards his brother, ignoring his wounded thigh, feeling how the blood trickled down his leg.

“Kili!” his brother also shouted, running towards him.

Finally, they met and Kili flung his arms around his brother's neck, whereas Fili wrapped his arms tightly around the other's waist. They just held each other tight for a while, not saying a word, Kili was laughing and crying at the same time.

Then they drew apart.

“I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever again, do you hear me? I thought I would never find you! Do you know how dangerous these woods are?” Fili scolded.

Kili wiped his tears away, feeling slightly embarrassed. No wonder Tauriel would rather be married to Fili. Kili had again managed to behave like a sulky child, running away into the woods because he was pissed, getting in trouble, needing his big brother to help him. Fili's telling-off was further proof to this. He was a father and a husband now! He needed to act more responsible in the future. He needed to prove to Tauriel that marrying him hadn't been a mistake.

Then, Fili's features softened.

“You are hurt. Come, sit down, let me have a look at it.”

He led Kili over to a fallen tree which was forming a natural bench.

“Oh my, it really is a deep cut, I think you might need some stitches, but I'll try to wrap it up so that you won't die of blood loss”, Fili tried to joke.

Kili just rolled his eyes. He knew he screwed up. Then Fili took off his t-shirt and wrapped it around Kili’s thigh.

“That should stanch the bleeding long enough until we get back to the cabin and Sigrid and Tauriel can have a look at it”, Fili explained, then he stood up and reached out his hand into Kili’s direction to draw him to his feet as well. Kili took it while frowning at his brother.

“Do you know the way back?” he asked.

Fili blushed. “Well, not really, but we don't have any other opportunity but to try, don't we?”

Saying that he briefly squeezed Kili’s hand before letting go of it. “Come on, let's go back to the others. When I left, they were really worried”, he explained.

Kili swallowed. “Even... her?” he wanted to know.

Fili sighed. “To be honest, when I left, she didn't know that you were gone, but I'm certain that the others have already informed her about our absence and, yes, I believe that she must be worried sick! No matter how angry she might have been with you, she loves you, you idiot!” he explained and put his hand to Kili’s neck, pulling him close in order to press their foreheads together.

Then they started their way back. Fili said that he somehow remembered certain prominent tree formations and thus might find their way through the thicket, but Kili had the feeling that they were walking in circles. He was thirsty and hungry, his leg and wrist were aching and the air in the forest was so dense, he had trouble breathing.

“Can we... can we take a break, Fee? I'm so exhausted!” he pleaded.

His brother stopped dead in his tracks, turning towards him. “You alright?” he asked worriedly.

Kili licked his dry and cracked lips. “Yeah... no, I don't know. I'm feeling dizzy... I need to sit down!”

He did just that, sinking down to the ground and sighing deeply.

“We'll never get back home, Fee. We'll never see her or our babies again! We'll die out here, but at least you and I are together!”

Kili could feel new tears welling up in his eyes. Fili crouched down next to him.

“Kili! Don't give up! We will find back to them – to Tauriel and Rory and Teddy! Maybe... maybe we should let our heart guide us. Let's just wish to get back to them – I found you, after all...”

Kili wiped away his tears, sniffing. Then he looked into his brother's clear blue eyes (like the sky on a sunny day in spring), nodding.

“Yeah, maybe you are right. Maybe we just have to close our eyes and tap our heels three times, thinking 'There's no place like home' and we will find back to them,” he said sarcastically but actually hoping that it would work like that.

Fili snorted. “Yeah, maybe we should try that. But first, you have to get up. Come on, Kili!” Fili stood up and again, he helped his brother to his feet, this time not letting go of his hand while they were stumbling through the undergrowth, not thinking about how they could go back to Tauriel and the babies, but rather finding their way instinctively.

Kili couldn't believe his eyes. There she stood, in a small clearing like a wood nymph in her dark khaki shorts and a light beige tank top, her red hair illuminated by the sunlight, arms akimbo, looking up to Legolas who had climbed a tree in order to survey their surroundings. Unfortunately, he was looking in the wrong direction and thus had missed Fili's and his arrival.

“Tauriel!” he called, letting go of his brother's hand, running towards her. He could see her squaring her shoulders, turning into his direction, her eyes widening when she saw him.

“Kili!” she screamed, heading towards him until they met, embracing tightly.

“Oh, Kili,” she whispered, taking his face between her hands, kissing him passionately. Kili could feel tears burning in his eyes. How could he even have assumed that she didn't love him anymore? Then, suddenly, he felt another pair of arms wrapping around them. It was Fili. Tauriel broke her kiss with Kili and turned towards his brother, kissing him now as well.

“I'm so glad you two are back,” she said, first pressing her forehead against Fili's, then she repeated the gesture with Kili.

In the meantime, Legolas had climbed down from the tree and walked over to them.

“You two are nothing but trouble, yet I'm glad you have returned, safe and sound,” he commented, but Kili could see the relief in his sky blue eyes. It was almost the same blue as Fili's eyes, however, it reminded Kili more of the sky on a warm summer's day. Tauriel's eyes, on the other hand, were a deep forest green, mysterious and untamed, like those woods around them. Now those eyes looked at him, soft and caring.

“You are hurt,” she simply stated, lowering her gaze. For a moment, Kili wondered how she could tell without looking at his thigh, then he noticed that blood was seeping through Fili's makeshift bandage and she had probably felt it on her own thigh when they were embracing.

“Yes,” Kili answered, blushing.

“He cut his thigh,” Fili added. Tauriel frowned, then crouched down to inspect the wound, unwrapping Fili's t-shirt. She winced when she saw the rupture.

“I think it needs stitches – and the margins of the wound already look inflamed, maybe you will also need antibiotics,” she remarked.

Kili frowned. “Maybe Sigrid can take care of it – she is a nurse, after all,” he said.

Tauriel looked up at him. “Yes, of course, she can clean the wound, disinfect it and professionally bandage it, but I doubt that she has antibiotics. Kili, this is serious, I don't want to be a widow so shortly after my wedding!”

“Well, then, at least, you will be free to marry my brother!” he commented and almost instantly regretted it when he saw Tauriel's hurt expression and heard Fili's startled gasp.

“You got to be kidding me, Kili! Do you really think I would have married you if I didn't want to?”

Kili pouted. “Well, you said so yourself, that maybe you should have married Fili instead of me because he is always there when you need him, contrary to me!”

Tauriel got up again, putting a hand to his cheek.

“I know I said that. And I'm sorry! Of course I love you, and, of course, I love your brother. So this relationship is not easy for me, always trying to distribute my love for you equally, always trying not to exclude one of you... I accepted your proposal, Kíli because I wished to be married to you. Yet, I also wished to be married to you, Fili. It was just a question of who asked me first,” she confessed.

For a moment, the brothers just looked at each other. Then they took Tauriel into their arms, holding her close, both of them.

“We love you, darling,” Kili whispered, kissing her temple.

“Yeah, more than anything else in the world, except our babies. And each other. And our mother,” Fili explained and all three of them chuckled.

Then Legolas cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt you, guys, but I think it's time to go back!”

Tauriel let go of Fili and Kili.

“You are right. It's almost noon and none of us had any breakfast so far. I'm starving,” she remarked.

Kili frowned. “And you two know the way back? Without getting lost and stuff?”

Legolas smiled smugly at him. “Of course we do. It's not the first time Tauriel and I went exploring these woods – we almost know them like the back of our hands!” he boasted.

Tauriel just rolled her eyes. “He is exaggerating, at least to some extent. But it's true that we know how to find our way back; we’re experienced hikers, after all!”

Saying that she took Fili's and Kili's hands and followed Legolas who was leading the way from the clearing into the depth of the woods again. Kili just hoped that the twins were right and had a better sense of direction than him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kili's remark, “Maybe we just have to close our eyes and tap our heels three times, thinking 'There's no place like home'...” is an allusion to a famous movie. Can you guess which one?  
> Comments are very much appreciated!


	6. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tauriel and Legolas return to the cabin with Fíli and Kíli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, special thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

“Oh my god, there you finally are!”, Sigrid, who was standing in front of the cabin, exclaimed when she saw the small group returning. She was holding a crying Rory in her arms, and although her words seemed to be directed at the four of them, her eyes were focused on Tauriel.

“What happened?” the beautiful redhead asked alarmed, letting go of Fili's and Kili's hands, rushing towards her younger friend and her little daughter.

Sigrid frowned. “Approximately thirty minutes ago, Teddy and Rory started crying. So, Ori and I changed their diapers and when they wouldn't calm down after that, Gimli heated up the two remaining bottles with your breast milk because we thought that they were hungry. Actually, Teddy started drinking right away, but Rory refused the bottle, didn't want to drink, yet she also didn't stop crying. I've been walking around with her the whole time, while Ori and Gimli tended to Teddy. He finished his bottle but didn't stop crying as well. It really made us nervous, thinking that maybe something had happened to Fili and Kili or you!”

Tauriel smiled at the younger woman and briefly embraced her while taking her daughter into her arms. “Nothing happened, we are all back, although Kili is hurt. Can you please take a look at his thigh and his wrist?” she asked.

Sigrid nodded, seeming to be glad to be rid of the responsibility to take care of little Rory.

However, as soon as Tauriel pressed her daughter to her chest, the baby stopped crying, opened her big amber eyes in order to look at her mother, then pressed her little face against one of Tauriel's breasts as if smelling the milk in it (which she actually probably did).

“Are you hungry, my precious?” Tauriel quietly asked and as if in response the baby made a reassuring sound. Tauriel smiled down at her, then she pressed a kiss to Rory's forehead.

“Ouch! Honestly, are you treating all of your patients at the hospital as roughly as that, Sigrid?”, Kili complained. Tauriel briefly turned around, seeing Sigrid kneeling in front of the dark-haired young man, unwrapping the makeshift bandage while Fili was supporting his brother.

Legolas was hovering behind them. Tauriel remembered his fight with Gimli and understood that he avoided going inside.

Yet her daughter was hungry and she also wanted to look after her son, so she left the others behind (because she was sure that Sigrid knew what she was doing). When she entered the cabin, she saw Gimli sitting on one of the couches in the living room, frowning at and singing to (Tauriel was sure it was “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica) the little boy in his arms who was wailing and squirming while Ori was on the phone, pacing up and down.

“Hey, guys,” Tauriel announced her presence. Both young men looked at her as if she was an apparition.

“Finally,” Gimli sighed, getting up from the couch, walking over to her. There was a question in his brown eyes and Tauriel knew what he tried to convey.

“Legolas is still outside – with Fili and Kili!” He gave her a small nod, then he stormed outside – the crying baby still in his arms.

Ori, however, just ended his phone call. “Yes, yes they have all returned now. Thank you so much for your help! Goodbye.”

Then he turned towards her. “I'm glad you are all back, Tauriel. Erm, do you need me here? Or can I go outside to my cousins?” he asked politely.

Tauriel smiled at him. “Go to your cousins, Ori. Rory is hungry and I will have to feed her now”, she explained and the young man blushed.

“Oh, okay,” he answered and followed Gimli outside.

Tauriel sighed as she settled down on the couch, pulling down the strap of her top, opening her nursing bra, letting her daughter latch onto her breast. She made a startled gasp as the little child drank with a strong draught. “Hey, Rory, if you are that hungry now, I wonder why you refused the bottle half an hour ago,” she remarked while smiling fondly at the baby, gently stroking her chubby cheek.

Then there was a commotion at the door.

“And I'm telling you once again, Kili, there is only so much I can do, please let one of us drive you to the hospital!”, Sigrid said angrily.

Kili made a frustrated sound. “You are not my mother nor my wife, so you can't boss me around!” he explained while Fili hissed his brother's name.

Tauriel sighed. All she longed for was some peace and quiet with her daughter!

“Guys, I don't think we should burst in there like that! Tauriel made it clear that she wanted to breastfeed Rory”, Ori explained in a worried tone.

“So what? Do you think I haven't already seen my wife's breasts? Or that Fili hasn't? How do you think Rory and Teddy were made? Immaculate conception?” Kili grumbled, now entering the cabin, supported by his brother.

Sigrid and Ori were hot on their heels whereas Gimli and Legolas (the redhead's arm wrapped tightly around the taller blond's waist) followed after a short while (and it was Legolas who was now holding Teddy in his arms, making funny faces at his nephew who seemed to be unimpressed by it).

Tauriel frowned at them, but they all didn't seem to care (except from Ori who omitted looking at her), settling down on the couches and armchairs. Fortunately, Rory didn't bother, just kept drinking as if she was famished (and probably she actually was).

Kili reclined next to her and Tauriel only now noticed that his forehead was covered in sweat.

“Fili? Can you please check if he has a temperature?” she asked his brother and Fili nodded, immediately putting a hand to Kili's forehead. Kili pulled a face.

“He feels hot, but actually I don't know,” the blond finally admitted.

Tauriel just nodded (while Rory was still drinking).

Sigrid growled. “I'll go get a thermometer,” she explained, storming out of the room.

In the meantime, Legolas had settled down on the other couch, Gimli beside him, and the two of them tended to Teddy as if he was their son (and considering their situation, being an unmarried gay couple, Teddy was the closest to having an own child that they probably could get at the moment).

In the end, it actually turned out that Kili had a temperature, but he remained stubborn, refusing to be driven to the hospital (despite Tauriel's and Fili's attempts at convincing him), only letting Sigrid disinfect and sew the wound, before having a fresh bandage wrapped around it.

“I don't want to be separated from Tauriel or Fili or my children,” he argued and that was that.

Sigrid rolled her eyes. “Alright. But if you aren't feeling better tomorrow morning, I will call an ambulance without your consent if you are still refusing to see a doctor,” Sigrid declared and Tauriel silently agreed with her after Rory had finished drinking, while she was closing her nursing bra, pulling up her top strap.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, no action or drama in this chapter.  
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed reading it.  
> (The next chapter will be much more exciting, I promise!)


	7. Second Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kíli wakes up in the middle of the night, he notices that something is wrong with his wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl, for her awesome work.  
> Furthermore, I'd like to thank all my readers for being interested in this story.

Kili woke up in the middle of the night to someone humming a lullaby and the creaking of a rocking chair. When he opened his eyes he could see Tauriel sitting in said chair in the dark, her figure only illuminated by a few stray moonbeams, highlighting her red hair and her white  sleep shirt . 

Kili involuntarily smiled at the picture. He loved to watch her interacting with their children, cuddling with them, feeding them, changing their diapers (although this task was almost always done by him or his brother when they were home), bathing them.

He thought about the things they had learned during their antenatal classes; not only how to get through the birthing process and to care for the babies, but also about the physical and mental changes with regard to the mother and about the strain that having a  newborn would put on the parents' relationship. The lady who had given this course had mentioned that it was natural that the first few weeks to months after the birth a new mother would be mainly busy with tending to her  child so that maybe other things were neglected. Therefore, many new fathers felt jealous of their children. 

Kili had snorted at that and exchanged a look with his brother, and Fili's sceptical expression had shown that he was sharing Kili’s conviction that they would never be jealous of their babies. He had been right. On the contrary, he felt sometimes jealous of Tauriel since she was the one the babies needed the most at the moment because she was breastfeeding them. Of course, on the few occasions when she had pumped milk and they had used baby bottles, he and his brother had fed them (but those occasions had been really rare).

Contentedly, Kili closed his eyes, just listening to Tauriel humming the lullaby. Suddenly, he frowned. Something was wrong with the melody; it wasn't the lullaby she was usually humming or singing to their babies. Why would she suddenly choose a different one?

“Tauriel?” he asked.

The humming stopped for a moment, then it continued. Kili sat up in bed.

“Tauriel!” he said louder.

The humming stopped again, then she started singing the lyrics.

It made his hair stand on end.

The lyrics were pretty dark and rather frightening than soothing.

Why would she sing something like that to their babies?

“Tauriel!” he called her name (which made Fili growl in his sleep, rolling onto his other side), but she didn't react. Kili got up and stumbled towards her (his thigh was still hurting, but he had refused to see a doctor), then he put his hand on her shoulder and she stopped singing, looking up at him instead. Kili felt how his heart stopped beating for a moment, a cold shiver ran down his spine. Her expression frightened him. That wasn't his Tauriel!

Surprised, he drew his hand back and she started screaming.

Kili stumbled backwards, colliding with one of the cribs (fortunately it was Teddy's empty crib since Tauriel was cradling their little boy in her arms). Yet the noise woke up Fili completely.

Gasping, he sat up in bed, asking “What happened?”

He looked between Tauriel and Kili, then he drew his eyebrows together, looking Kili directly in the eyes.

“What did you do?” he asked his brother sternly, getting out of bed, rushing over to Tauriel. He put his hand to her shoulder – and froze. Kili knew immediately, that his brother also noticed that there was something wrong with her.

“Tauriel, give me the baby, now!” he said in a determined tone. She didn't follow his instruction, quite the contrary, clutching a now crying Teddy tighter to her chest, but at least she stopped screaming.  Instead, she growled, “Not Tauriel!”

Kili's eyes widened. This wasn't real, was it? Biting his lip, he stepped forward, grabbing Fili's arm.

Fili shook him off, leaning down to Tauriel, now putting both of his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes.

“This is nonsense. You are Tauriel Goldberg, neé Greenwood, you are Kili Goldberg's wife, mother of Rory and Teddy Goldberg, sister to Legolas Greenwood and my lover! So fight against it! We all love you!”

For a moment, her body went rigid, then her expression changed and she sobbed.

“Fili?”

Kili let out a gasp of relief. Yes, this was their Tauriel! Fili sighed and took her into his arms, minding the baby she was holding.

“What happened?” he asked.

Kili could hear that Tauriel was crying, could see her shoulders shaking. Immediately he wanted to go to her, to comfort her as well, like Fili. Then he heard a wailing from Rory's crib and he bent down to take the baby into his arms.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Yeah?” Kili asked.

“Hi, erm, sorry for disturbing you, but Sigrid sent me down in order to ask if everything was alright. She claimed to have heard a woman screaming and thought that maybe there was something wrong with Tauriel... or the babies...”

Fili and Kili exchanged a look.

“Everything's fine,” Kili answered automatically.

Tauriel added, “I've just had a nightmare.”

Ori didn't seem to be pleased with that, “Can I come in, then?” he asked instead. Kili got furious. Did they think he or his brother were hurting Tauriel or their babies?

“Of course you can come in! What did you think we were doing?” he asked angrily, exchanging a look with Fili and Tauriel.

Ori really opened the door turning on the lights and peeking in shyly, he blushed as he noticed how short Tauriel's  sleep shirt was, exposing all of her long, slim legs.

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled again, “but Sigrid insisted.”

Tauriel smiled reassuringly at him while rocking the still crying Teddy in her arms. “It's okay, Ori. I understand that Sigrid is worried. I think I would have reacted the same if I had heard her screaming in the middle of the night!”

Ori smiled back, then he sent apologetic glanced at Fili and Kili.

“Again, I'm sorry for disturbing you! Goodnight, everyone!” Saying that, he closed the door.

All three of them sighed with relief.

“Let's go back to bed, then,” Fili suggested. Tauriel smiled tiredly at him. “Yeah, good idea!” She got up from the rocking chair, still clutching a crying Teddy to her chest, and Fili helped her to climb back into bed, then joining her. Kili looked down at the baby in his arms. Rory seemed to have calmed down and were once again sleeping peacefully in her Daddy's arms. He decided to put her back into the crib and then to follow Tauriel's and Fili's example.

However, Tauriel seemed to have other ideas. “Kili, no, I don't want her to sleep all alone in her crib. Bring her to our bed as well. I want to have her with me, like Teddy!”

Kili nodded, then walked over to the bed, his sleeping daughter in his arms. His leg hurt like hell and he had trouble climbing into bed with the baby in his  arms but kept quiet. Fili, however, seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with him. 

Frowning, he asked, “You okay, Kee?” That caused Tauriel to shoot him a questioning glance while she handed Teddy over to Fili so that she could take Rory from her husband's arms which made it easier for him to get into bed.

“Yeah, I'm fine, it's just my leg,” he answered and rested his head against Tauriel's  shoulder while reaching out his right hand to caress his daughter's silky red curls.

“I'm worried about you, Kili. You should have gone to the hospital! Maybe the wound is festering! Tomorrow  morning let Sigrid have a look at it and if she suggests again that you should see a doctor, I will drive you to the next town. Period!” she said in a bossy voice.

Kili made an indistinguishable sound which could be an affirmation or a negation.

“What was that?”, Fili asked sternly, obviously playing his big brother card.

“Yes,” Kili grumbled, causing Fili to chuckle. He was lying on his back, holding Teddy, who was still wailing quietly, close to his chest.

“You know, I'm also worried about the babies,” Tauriel finally admitted.

“Why?”, Fili asked quietly.

“Well, for example, Rory isn't drinking enough. And Teddy is more crying than sleeping. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go on holiday while they are still that young,” Tauriel admitted.

“And maybe it's just a phase. Maybe they just need some time to adjust to the new environment. But speaking about being worried, Tauriel, I'm worried about you too,” Kili remarked.

Tauriel turned her head towards him. “About me? Why?”

Fili snorted. “Why? Are you kidding? Did you forget about your... condition? The reason why Sigrid sent Ori down to check if everything's alright?”

Tauriel frowned. “To be honest, I don't remember a lot. I just know that I heard Teddy crying, got out of bed and settled down with him in the rocking chair. I thought he was hungry, so I nursed him and afterwards he was still crying. I tried to comfort him by humming the lullaby. Then, the next thing I know is you two standing in front of me, looking as if you had seen a ghost!”

Kili contemplated her answer.

“Maybe we did,” he whispered.

“What was that?” Fili suddenly wanted to know.

Kili cleared his throat. “Maybe Tauriel was possessed by a ghost”, he voiced his unsettling thoughts.

Fili snorted again. “Yeah, sure. And we are all part of a ridiculous horror movie!” Unfortunately, his big brother didn't sound very convinced and Tauriel didn't say anything at all. Finally, even Teddy calmed down and they all fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this was a terribly frightening experience for them.  
> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated.


	8. Worries...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli's wound is getting worse and he has to go to hospital...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my lovely beta: Grammar Grrrl!  
> I want to thank Angus_Young_Forever_ACDC for the suggestion that Kíli has to go to hospital concerning his wound.

When Tauriel woke up the next morning, she immediately checked Kili's temperature by brushing back his sweaty hair, pressing her hand to his forehead. He felt hot, too hot. This wasn't a good sign.

"Kili," she whispered, "please wake up!"

He didn't react, so she shook his shoulder. " Kili!"

He groaned and tried to back away, then suddenly he cried out and sat up in bed, waking Fili as well.

"What happened?" Fili asked and also sat up, carefully pressing a peacefully sleeping Teddy to his chest.

"Kili has got a temperature", Tauriel answered while rocking a whimpering Rory.

"How's your leg, Ki?" Fili wanted to know.

"It's okay, I think it's even better than yesterday", he said but didn't sound very convincing.

Tauriel exchanged a look with Fili.

"You've always been a very bad liar, Kili," Fili said quietly and got out of bed, walking over to the cribs, placing Teddy in one of them. Then he went over to his brother, unceremoniously pulling back the covers.

Tauriel gasped as she saw how red and raw the skin on Kili's thigh looked. 

"Unwrap his wound, Fili," she demanded, but when Fili tried to do as he was told, Kili slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me, Fee!" Kili said. 

" Kili! This is not the time to be stubborn! If the wound is infected and you don't get the right treatment, you can die!" Tauriel explained and couldn't prevent her voice from shaking. Yes, she was worried about her young, stubborn and irrational husband!

Fili 's eyes widened for a moment, then he grabbed his brother's leg, starting to remove the bandage.

"I swear, Kili, if you slap my hand again, I will knock you unconscious to check your wound and drag you to the hospital if necessary," he mumbled.

Kili crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm not a child, Fee," he declared.

"Then stop acting like one," Fili answered  and when the bandage was finally gone, he gasped. "Oh my, Kili, that looks awful!" he confessed.

Tauriel gulped. Although Sigrid had done her best to disinfect and sew the wound, it was clearly inflamed and festering, the skin an angry dark red around the suture and there was clearly pus seeping from it.

" Fili, go get Sigrid and the others. Now!" Tauriel declared.

Fili nodded, then he got up from the floor, stumbling towards the bedroom door.

Kili turned towards his wife.

"What is it? It's not that bad, isn't it? Sigrid can clean it and then everything will be fine, right?" he wanted to know, frowning.

Tauriel just looked at him, at his frightened expression and felt terrible because of the things she had said to him the previous day. "Oh, Kili," she simply said, then embracing him carefully because she was still holding their little daughter.

"Don't worry, Tauriel. I'm not going to die. I'm too stubborn for that! And besides, I wouldn't want to leave you all alone - my beautiful wife, my baby daughter, my big brother, and my little nephew!"

Tauriel looked at him unbelievingly. "How...? Why...?"

She wanted to ask him how he had figured out the paternity of the  twins but failed.

Kili smiled sadly at her. "Oh, I'm not stupid, in spite of what you and Fili might think!" 

Tauriel wanted to say something, but instead she just kissed him, trying to convey everything she felt for him with that kiss.

Then Fili returned, followed by a sleepy Sigrid, a confused Ori, a grumpy Gimli, and a concerned Legolas.

"Oh my God, we need to get you to the hospital, Kili!" Sigrid exclaimed.

Fili simply nodded. "Okay, I'll take you, Kee! Let me just get dressed!"

Tauriel looked at the others. "I'm going with them, so I need you to look after the babies. And by looking after them, I really mean it! Don't leave them alone for a minute, okay?"

Legolas drew his eyebrows together. "Why? What's up?" he wanted to know and came over to the bed to take Rory from her.

Tauriel tried to smile reassuringly at him. "It's nothing, it's just that... that I had a bad dream!"

Legolas shot her a questioning glance but remained silent.

Sigrid cleared her throat. "But you don't know how long you will be gone... What if the babies get hungry?"

Tauriel felt herself blushing. "I'll pump some milk so that you can give them their bottles in case they get hungry!"

Suddenly there were soft cries coming from Teddy's crib and Gimli automatically tended to him, lifting him up.

Tauriel got up from the bed, taking all the supplies she needed for expressing milk with her, then heading to the bathroom.

"Hurry up," Fili called after her. He was already wearing a pair of jeans and seemed to be ready to leave.

Tauriel just rolled her eyes. "Actually, I was going to take a bath and do a facial, wash my hair, blow dry and straighten it... but if you insist..." she said sarcastically.

She could hear Kili laugh. "I love this woman!" he declared and Tauriel was glad that Kili didn't lose his humour, despite his serious condition.

Tauriel didn't like to use the breast pump because  on the one hand, it was uncomfortable, on the  other, it hurt her pride. Yet there were those occasions, like  today when she had to use it in order to provide her babies with breast milk when she wasn't able to breastfeed them. 

While she was pumping, she noticed that her body didn't produce as much milk as it used to and she made a mental note to take better care of herself.

After she had filled two bottles with breast-milk, she quickly dressed herself and left the bathroom.

Kili was still sitting on the bed while Fili was pacing.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, went over to his brother and helped him up.

"Sorry, but it takes some time to express milk and I don't want to take the babies with us to the hospital - too many germs!"

She could see Fili rolling his eyes, but remaining quiet.

While Fili walked his brother to the car, Tauriel left some instructions for her brother and Sigrid concerning Teddy's and Rory's care, kissed her babies goodbye, then she followed her husband and his brother.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update every week or at least every two weeks.  
> However, I have finished the first half of the next chapter of "Dark Matter" and will hopefully be able to update the story next week!


	9. ...and Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli has to stay at the hospital overnight and Tauriel and Fíli have sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl.  
> I also would like to thank all my readers, but especially Angus_Young_Forever_ACDC, Slut_For_Readers_And_Comments, Markus_Warner and Cassidy_And_The_Company.

 

At the hospital, they didn't have to wait long because the receptionist recognized the serious condition Kili was in, instantly sending him to one of the doctors. Kili's wound was seriously infected and the doctor gave him some local anaesthesia so that he could reopen the suture to remove the infected tissue. After the surgery, Kili was hooked to an IV which supplied him with fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers and he needed to stay at the hospital overnight. Tauriel wanted to sit with him for a while before driving back to the cabin, but then she received a phone call from a frantic Sigrid.

"Tauriel, you have to come back! Rory won't take the bottle, not from me and Ori nor from Legolas and Gimli. She was posseting after we could force at least some milk into her."

Tauriel got angry. "You forced-fed my daughter?" she asked in a very loud voice which caused Fili to frown and Kili to scowl.

"What are they doing to our babies?" Kili wanted to know, trying to get out of bed but was pushed back by his brother.

"We didn't force-feed her, I just put the teat to her lips and squeezed some drops of milk into her mouth and she was swallowing it, but then..." Sigrid tried to defend herself but was cut-off by an angry Tauriel.

"Please put Legolas on the phone, I need to talk to my brother", she demanded and Sigrid obeyed.

"Tauriel, don't be angry with Sigrid, she only meant well when she tried..." Legolas started, but Tauriel interrupted him.

"I don't care right now. I want you to take Teddy and Rory to my bedroom, put them into their cribs and stay with them until I get back, okay?"

She could hear that Legolas was taking a deep breath, then he answered, "Yeah, fine."

Tauriel decided that she immediately needed to go back and suggested that Fili could stay with his brother and she would fetch him later, but the brothers had other ideas.

"Nay, I'm coming with you, to give you some back up, this house is creepy enough and now we also have to deal with a bunch of idiots that can't take care of two little babies," Fili explained and Kili nodded.

"Yeah, he is right. I'm in good hands, but our babies aren't. I would feel better if I knew that my wife doesn't have to face those idiots alone!"

So, Fili briefly embraced his brother, pressing his forehead to Kili's, then Tauriel did the same, kissing him afterwards.

When they drove back to the cabin, it was without Kili.

It turned out that Teddy and Rory had been crying non-stop after they had left, but whereas Legolas - and only Legolas - could give Teddy his bottle, Rory had flat out refused to be fed by any of them, she only drank again when Tauriel was nursing her.

In the end, Sigrid ended up crying in the room she shared with her fiancé because there had been a small fight between her and Tauriel. Tauriel said that she would never again let Sigrid take care of her babies, while Fili filled in the others about Kili’s condition.

 For the rest of the day, the atmosphere was rather tense, so they all decided to go to bed early, however, not before Legolas cautiously suggested, "Tauriel, Fili, you two are really exhausted, especially after all the trouble with Kili. I think you could do with a good night's sleep. So, why don't you let Gimli and me look after Rory and Teddy tonight? We can put their cribs into our bedroom... Of course, if they won't stop crying again or refuse drinking, we will bring them immediately to you!"

Tauriel looked unsure, but before she could refuse her brother's suggestion, Fili answered in her stead.

"I think that's a great idea, Legolas! Come, Gimli, let us carry the cribs upstairs!"

Gimli frowned but followed his cousin.

Thirty minutes later, Rory and Teddy were sound asleep in Legolas' and Gimli's room while Tauriel and Fili retreated to theirs.

The bed felt too big without Kili in it. Maybe that was the reason why they were clinging to each other, Fili's arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders, Tauriel's head resting on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

She could feel his hand stroking her back, while hers was caressing his flank. At some point, they got bolder, letting their hands wander underneath their clothes, touching bare skin.

Tauriel felt his hand slipping into her knickers, fondling her backside, whereas her fingers were already playing with his chest hair, his nipples - although they weren't as sensitive as Kili's - eliciting a soft sigh from him.

In response, he let his hand wander over her butt cheeks, lower and lower until she felt his fingers brushing against her already wet entrance, causing her to moan his name.

"I want you, Tauriel," he whispered while he slightly pushed two of his fingers inside of her.

"Then take me," was her rather breathless answer.

Fili didn't need to be told twice, flipping her onto her back, settling down between her legs. She could feel how hard he already was while he crashed his lips to hers, kissing her rather aggressively. For a moment, she yielded to him, then she kissed back, fighting for dominance, yanking up his t-shirt as he was doing the same with hers, scratching her nails over his back while his hands were cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples until they ejected some milk due to arousal and stimulation.

For a moment, Fili hesitated, then he latched onto her breasts, first the left one, then the right one, tasting her milk, sucking and licking the sensitive nubs, making her moan.

"I need you, Fili, I need you inside of me!" she gasped and he let go of her breasts.

They quickly undressed each other after that, then Tauriel settled down on her back again, slightly spreading her legs as Fili knelt between them, grabbing her thighs, placing her knees onto his shoulders. She helped him to enter her by separating her folds while he took himself in hand, positioning at her entrance, looking deeply into her eyes, asking permission.

Tauriel nodded and then she felt him stretching and filling her with one hard, deep thrust until he was buried to the hilt. They both moaned, never breaking eye contact.

Then he started moving, hard, fast, and deep, pressing his fingers into the flesh of her hips, bruising her, watching her, slightly changing the angle of penetration, brushing against that sweet spot inside of her, causing her to cry out with lust.

Tauriel's body was covered in sweat and she felt that she was close. Yet, when she let her hand wander to her pubic mound to massage her clit, Fili slapped her hand away.

"No," he mumbled, "you don't need this. My cock alone will make you come!"

Tauriel only moaned in response, turned on by his words.

Then, he slightly leaned forward, and his member was no longer only stimulating the G-spot inside of her, but also rubbing against her exposed and swollen clit with every thrust, while his testicles were slapping against her perineum.

It didn't take her long to climax, screaming out his name, raking her nails over his back until the skin broke and she was drawing blood.

When her inner muscles were convulsing around him, Fili also reached his peak, and with a shout of triumph and one last, deep, hard thrust, he spilled himself inside of her, filling her with his seed.

Afterwards, he collapsed on top of her, catching his breath while her hands were caressing his back.

"Kili will be fine," he finally whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her collarbone.

"I know," Tauriel answered, burying one of her hands in his wild and sweaty blond curls.

They remained like that for a while, holding each other close, caressing and kissing each other, then Fili disentangled himself from her, rolling onto his side of the bed. He slightly winced when his back encountered the bedsheets.

"What's wrong?" Tauriel wanted to know, turning towards him.

Fili just chuckled. "I totally forgot that you turn into a wild cat every time we have sex."

Tauriel frowned. "It's about the scratching, isn't it? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," she whispered.

Fili also turned towards her, "It's okay." Then he reached out a hand and placed it onto her hip. "I also wasn't very gentle with you," he said referring to her bruised flesh, bearing the imprints of his fingers.

Tauriel gave him a small smile. "I like it when you mark me during sex," she confessed and Fili grinned at her.

"See? And I like it when you mark me!"

Then he spread a blanket over them and they fell asleep soon after.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are very much appreciated:)


	10. A New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More trouble in paradise...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

 

When Fíli woke up the next morning, he was alone in bed. For a moment he wondered where Tauriel had disappeared to, then he could hear the shower in the bathroom running and smiled to himself. Of course she would already be up and about.

So Fíli stretched, wincing slightly because the movement put a strain on the healing skin on his back, then he rolled over to bury his face in Tauriel's pillow, inhaling her wonderful scent. But just as he propped himself up on his hands in order to get up, he noticed something on the sheets on Tauriel's side of the bed. Something that made him frown and bile rising up in his throat.

There, amidst the tell-tale stains of their intermingled juices, he could clearly see blood.

In an instant he was out of bed and headed towards the connecting door to their bathroom, entering it without knocking. Behind the shower curtain, Fíli could clearly make out her silhouette and paused.

"Tauriel?" he called in order to catch her attention and was successful.

She turned off the running water and peeked out from behind the shower curtain.

"Fíli? What's wrong?" she asked and looked worriedly at him.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and studied her for a moment. Her face looked calm and relaxed, there was no anger towards him. How could she not be angry with him? He had hurt her, had made her bleed! If Kíli ever found out, he would certainly kill him. He decided to be straightforward.

"There's blood on the bedsheets. I hurt you last night! Why didn't you tell me to stop? I'm so, so sorry! I know Kíli told me to be gentle with you and yet I wasn't! I'm not any better than that bastard Bolg... I-," he rambled on, but Tauriel interrupted him.

"Stop it! Don't compare yourself to that monster, you are nothing like him!"

She grabbed a towel from the towel rack, wrapped it around her body and stepped out of the shower, coming over to him.

"But I made you bleed!" he argued and flinched, when Tauriel grabbed his biceps.

"That can happen, nothing to worry about," she said, searching his eyes. Then she smiled, cupping his face between her hands, kissing him sweetly.

"Nevertheless, I think we should change the sheets now and put a towel underneath next time," she continued.

Fíli sighed, calming slowly down after his initial shock. Tauriel was fine, she had said so herself!

"Yeah, you are right," he answered and added, after taking in her fresh and clean scent, "Are you done in here? Can I take a shower now?"

Tauriel nodded.

"Yes, I'm done. And you are definitely in need of a shower. But hurry up! You know that we want to go to the hospital in order to bring Kíli back home!" she explained and left him alone in the bathroom.

Fíli enjoyed the hot spray of the water on his body, except when it came in touch with the scratches on his back, a reminder of his night with Tauriel. Carefully he cleaned his back, wincing slightly. Maybe he should ask Tauriel to take a look at them in case they were inflamed.

Fifteen minutes later, he emerged the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips and entered their bedroom. While getting properly dressed, he heard a commotion in the corridor. Sighing, he exited the bedroom to check what was going on and almost ran into Sigrid and Ori who were obviously having an argument.

"We can't just leave like that, it's impolite! And, by the way, I would like to stay," Ori explained, while clutching Sigrid's arm.

"Then stay! I didn't tell you to come with me, we don't need to do everything together," Sigrid answered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Ori seemed to be flabbergasted. "But I'm your fiancé!"

Sigrid shrugged.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we have to be like attached at the hip!"

Saying that she freed her arm from Ori's grip and turned around, coming face to face with Fíli, which seemed to startle her.

"Hey, Sig," Fíli greeted her with a loopsided grin.

Sigrid pressed a hand over her heart.

"I didn't notice you were listening in on us," she snapped and tried to get past him, but Fíli held her back.

"Whoah, I wasn't listening in on you, but I involuntarily overheard your conversation with Ori. Do you think it wise to do a moonlight flight, without saying goodbye to your friends?" he asked and was taken aback by the hostility in her eyes.

"First of all, it's not a moonlight flight, because the sun is already shining, second I don't think that my friends would give a damn about me saying goodbye or not and third let go of my arm! You have lost every right to touch me since..."

She interrupted herself, freeing herself from Fíli.

Fíli frowned.

"Since?" he pressed.

Taking a deep breath, Sigrid lowered her gaze. She seemed to be fighting with herself, whether she should answer his question or not. For a moment, Fíli believed that she would remain quiet, but then she looked him straight in the eyes, squaring her shoulders.

"Since you turned me down five years ago! Remember? I felt so cheap afterwards, practically begging you to fuck me but apparently I wasn't good enough for you! Of course I wasn't, only sluts make it into your bed!"

Immediately, Fíli let go of her arm and Sigrid stormed off. He could hear Ori gasp in shock before running after her, frantically calling her name.

"Was she talking about me?"

Fíli flinched. He hadn't noticed Tauriel coming down the stairs, pressing Rory against her chest, tears running down her cheeks.

"Of course not! She is angry with me, that's all!" he answered scowling, then tentatively reaching out his hand towards her. Hesitantly, Tauriel came over to him.

"I thought she was my friend, I trusted her with my secrets, with my babies, and now I have to find out that she despised me!"

To Fíli's horror, Tauriel started sobbing, which, of course unsettled Rory, who instantly started crying. Fíli contemplated for a moment whom to console first. _Where are Gimli and Legolas, when I need them?_ he thought, then he got his answer.

"What did you do to her?"

It was Legolas, standing at the top of the stairs, holding a crying Teddy in his arms.

"Honestly? I didn't do anything to her, I never would!" he shot back angrily. This day seemed to turn into one of the worst days of his life.

"But she is crying! My sister almost never cries!" Legolas shouted, while coming down the stairs. He really looked intimidating with that scowl on his face, towering over Fíli.

"Calm down, Legs, he really didn't do anything - except from not fucking Sigrid, which in turn is the reason that she hates me!" Tauriel said.

Legolas seemed to be confused.

"Excuse me, what? It doesn't make any sense, Tau!"

Tauriel wiped away her tears, rocking Rory slightly in order to calm the baby down.

"Oh, it all makes perfectly sense now," Tauriel whispered, then she turned on her heel and went into their bedroom.

For a moment, Fíli and Legolas glared at each other. Then Fíli reached out his arms.

"Can I have my son, please? I need to get him ready, Tauriel and I are heading over to the hospital to get Kíli and we don't want to leave the babies behind."

Legolas hesitated, then he pressed a soft kiss to Teddy's forehead before handing him over to Fíli. The baby stopped crying immediately, looking at Fíli with Tauriel's eyes. Fíli couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, little prince, you just missed your Dad, didn't you?"

Teddy yawned, kicking his chubby arms and legs, and Fíli suddenly felt so much love for this little bundle of life in his arms that it totally overwhelmed him.

"I will never let anything bad happen to you, I swear," he whispered and kissed the baby's forehead. Teddy reached out one of his tiny hands, grabbing one of Fíli's blond curls, still wet from the shower.

"I'm sorry," Legolas suddenly whispered.

Fíli winced he had completely forgotten, that Tauriel's brother was still with him in the corridor. _That_ corridor. Involuntarily he felt a shiver running down his spine. They should leave.

"No problem. I can understand that you are protective of your sister. I'm also protective of Kíli, you know!"

Legolas sighed.

"Yes, overprotective, I would say."

Fíli chuckled.

"Likewise!" he said while trying to free his hair from Teddy's grip, without any success.

"Hey, Teddy, can you please unhand my hair? It's attached to my head and I can't remove us from this god damned corridor if you don't let go," he explained.

"You... feel it too?" Legolas asked unbelievingly.

Fíli nodded.

"Yes. There's something unsettling about it, but I can't say why."

Legolas didn't answer, but walked over to him.

"Let me help you," he said, first pushing Fíli's hand away, then gently stroking over Teddy's hand, until the baby opened his fist, releasing Fíli's hair.

"Thank you," Fíli said and Legolas genuinely smiled at him.

Fíli couldn't help but smile back.

"You're welcome," he answered.

Someone cleared his throat from the top of the stairs.

It was Gimli.

"Do you two need a room or something?" he asked acidly.

Legolas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Oh, please, Gimli, I'm not in the mood for one of your fits of jealousy," the blond said, then he stormed into the living room.

Fíli could see Gimli glaring at him, but decided to ignore it. There had already been too much fighting for one morning. Instead he followed Legolas into the living room - only to find him sitting on one of the couches, next to a crying Ori.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She's gone, Fíli. She took my minivan and simply drove off, after throwing that in front of my feet," Ori sobbed, extending a shaking hand, uncurling his fingers only to reveal something shiny.

A ring. A delicate, white gold band with a heart-shaped diamond. Sigrid's engagement ring.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Marcus_Warner for suggesting that the evil presence has something to do with Fíli's and Tauriel's really rough sex!


	11. On the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigrid's view on things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update, yay!  
> I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl.

 

Sitting in her fiancé's- ex-fiancé's- minivan, driving on a bumpy road through the woods, Sigrid tried to understand what had gotten into her. Never had she been so angry with anyone. Those were her friends!

She had known Fíli and Kíli since her thirteenth birthday when her father's dealings with the Goldberg family started, and they had always been like big brothers to her. Therefore, a part of Sigrid understood why Fíli had turned her down when she had made her intentions towards him clear: To him, she was like a little sister.

Yet it had hurt when he had told her that he wouldn't sleep with her, even after she had offered that she wouldn't mind including Kíli since she had known that the brothers were inseparable and tended to share girls.

And then poor Ori!

He had always been kind to her, comforting her when she had been pining after Fíli, who had made clear that he didn't like her like that.

So, she and Ori had become friends, then lovers, even though Sigrid had never felt for Ori the way she had felt for Fíli- was still feeling for him, actually. Yet Ori was totally in love with her. She knew it wasn't fair to use him as a substitute for the man she couldn't have, wouldn't have.

Of course, she liked Ori, she really did, but she wasn't in love with him.

Maybe it had been a mistake to accept his proposal, especially under these circumstances. He deserved better than her... Throwing her engagement ring at his feet, stealing his minivan! What was wrong with her?

Yet the strangest thing was that she didn't feel as angry now as she had felt when she had left the cabin, so as if driving through the woods was calming her down. Maybe that was the reason Tauriel and Legolas liked to go hiking... the woods could have a soothing effect on you.

Tauriel... her first and only female friend. Tauriel with her beautiful red hair, her gorgeous green eyes, and her pretty face. Tauriel, who had been nothing but kind to her since they had met for the first time.

Sigrid knew that she had involuntarily insulted the other woman when she had said to Fíli that only sluts made it into his bed. But Tauriel wasn't a slut. Sigrid didn't understand where her sudden bout of jealousy had come from, but she understood that she would have to beg the others for forgiveness because she had screwed up.

Therefore, Sigrid decided to turn around and drive back to the cabin. Yes, that was the right decision, especially since she didn't take anything with her, not her clothes or cosmetics, not her purse or her mobile phone.

So, stepping on the brakes she stopped the van, then she put the car into reverse to make a U-turn, but while she was driving backwards, she somehow lost control of the vehicle and the minivan drove straight into the ditch along the road, even hitting a tree.

Fortunately, nothing had happened to her, but the car was damaged and she couldn't get it out of the ditch.

Sigrid hit the steering wheel with both hands, angry with herself. It was clear that she would have to leave the van here and walk back to the cabin. So, she got out of the car, walked to its booth and took out the advance warning triangle to put it on the road so that other vehicles wouldn't drive into Ori's van.

Since she couldn't call anyone, she contemplated waiting for another car driving by- perhaps it would even be Tauriel and Fíli since they wanted to go to the hospital in order to get Kíli, but Sigrid wasn't sure if she had taken the right roads. Thinking about it, she couldn't remember anything from her drive out here, since she had been constantly looking at the map while reading out Tauriel's instructions to Ori.

So, her only option was to walk back to the cabin.

After placing the advance warning triangle on the road, she started walking into the direction she had come from. Sigrid knew that it would take her a while to get back to the cabin and her friends but she didn't have any other choice...

While walking on the road, Sigrid couldn't help but feeling watched.

Wrapping her arms around her, she tried to ignore it, telling herself that her mind was playing tricks on her. Yet, somehow it was unsettling to be the only human being around here, especially since Tauriel had told them about the wild wolves and rabid foxes roaming the woods, not to forget the mountain lions which were not native to the area but had somehow managed to settle down here. But as long as she kept to the main road, she was fine, wasn't she?

Sigrid didn't know how long she had been following the road in the opposite direction she had driven down it before, when she noticed a young woman standing in the undergrowth, beckoning her to come over.

At first, Sigrid couldn't believe her eyes. So, she blinked several times, but the woman was still standing there in her long, white sleeveless dress, her long, red hair falling over her shoulders. Sigrid had to admit that she had at first believed the apparition to be Tauriel. But then she understood that this couldn't be the case.

Yet the young woman seemed to be very insistent on Sigrid coming over to her.

Could she trust this stranger? Sigrid wasn't sure, but somehow, she seemed to be unable to resist the pull. Maybe this woman knew a short cut through the woods.

Sigrid decided to throw caution to the winds and walked directly towards the mysterious, red-haired woman, standing in the undergrowth.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it:)  
> Please let me know what you think.


	12. Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fíli and Tauriel drive to the hospital in order to bring Kíli back... and find something unexpected on the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl.

Later than initially planned, Tauriel and Fíli were on their way to the hospital, together with little Teddy and Rory.

Fíli had tried to call his brother on his mobile to inform him about the delay, only to hear Kíli's ringtone coming from the bedroom - the little idiot had apparently forgotten to take his phone with him to the hospital. Well, then it was Kíli's fault that he would have to wait for them without knowing what was going on.

Tauriel was driving since it was her car, while Fíli sat in the passenger seat (which was much more comfortable than being wedged between two baby carriers in the backseat, like he had been on their drive to the cabin three days ago), and the little ones were sleeping peacefully.

Fíli could feel his mood getting better and better the more distance they put between themselves and the cabin. He didn't know why, but somehow the atmosphere in the cabin made him feel uneasy, depressed, aggressive. But not only him, as it had turned out.

Legolas had confessed to sensing this gloomy atmosphere as well and Gimli's jealously, or Sigrid's anger, were certainly also caused by it. Not to mention the incident with Tauriel two nights ago, when she was sitting in that rocking chair, clutching little Teddy while claiming to not being Tauriel. Fíli could still feel a shiver running down his spine when he thought about the sound of her voice, the expression in her eyes.

And this hadn't been the only incident.

Fíli thought back to the night  before when he and Tauriel had had sex.

The intention of it had been to find comfort in each other, to forget their worries about Kíli. Yet, it somehow had gotten out of control to the point where they had hurt each other. Yes, it was true that they liked it rough, but never had Tauriel scratched his back that badly that he could still feel her marks the next day and never had he made her bleed... although she had claimed that it was okay, nothing to worry about. Fíli could still feel his stomach churning when he thought about the blood on the sheets.

"Do you see that?" she suddenly rose him from his thoughts.

"Sorry?" he asked, looking at her totally confused.

Tauriel smiled while keeping her eyes on the road; she never let something else catch her attention while driving, something he admired her for.

"The advance warning triangle. And the blue minivan in the ditch," she explained.

"What?" Now Fíli's attention was focused on the road ahead. Squinting his eyes, he tried to make out what was ahead of them; as much as Fíli hated to admit it, Tauriel's eyes were much better than his. 

Yes, she was right! There was something blue in the ditch, half hidden in the tree line. Upon drawing near, it became clear that it was a minivan. A blue minivan, just like Ori's...

"Oh my god, Tauriel! Do you think it's the van Sigrid has driven off with?" he asked.

Tauriel shrugged, "I'm not sure... but what are the odds that there was another van like this driving down this road today?" she asked back, stopping the car.

As soon as Fíli read the license plates, he knew that this was Ori's minivan.

"Oh, shit," he mumbled, getting out of the car.

"Sigrid?" Fíli called, approaching Ori's van.

When he reached the driver seat's door, he opened it, afraid of what he would find. But then, when he found the car empty, he felt relieved. A part of him had feared that Sigrid might have been injured in the... accident.

"Is she okay?" Tauriel suddenly asked behind him, almost giving him a heart attack because he didn't notice her approaching him until he heard her voice.

"Jesus, Tauriel, do you want to kill me? Don't sneak up on me like that," he said clutching his chest over his heart, completely ignoring her question.

Yet Tauriel ignored his comment as well.

"She isn't here. Where is she?" she wanted to know so as if she expected him to know the answer.

"Maybe she tries to walk to the next town," he suggested, shielding his eyes from the sun, looking ahead.

Of course, he didn't see anything except from the stretch of road, meandering through the forest. 

"And what if she is hurt? What if something has happened to her?" Tauriel inquired.

Fíli shrugged, "The best thing would be we get back into the car and follow the road. Maybe we can catch up with  her, " he said.

"Fíli, I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling," Tauriel confessed.

Fíli wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we will find her soon... But first I'll call the rangers so that they can take care of the van. Poor Ori! He loved this thing," Fíli commented, pulling his mobile out of his jeans pocket.

But when he looked at the display, he frowned.

"I have no reception. And you, Tauriel?" he glanced expectantly at her.

Tauriel sighed and took her phone out. Then she shook her head.

"Me neither. What shall we do?" she asked.

Fíli shrugged, "It would be best to really drive to town. There we have reception and can call the rangers. And who knows, maybe we even run across Sigrid," he said.

Tauriel took a deep breath, then nodded. "Yeah, you are right," she agreed before walking back towards her car, unlocking the doors, checking on the babies; they were still sleeping peacefully.

For a moment Fíli wondered why Tauriel had locked the car when there was no one else around, but then he remembered her telling them how dangerous the forest was, that there were wild animals roaming the woods... Well, maybe they were even able to open car doors.

"Fíli? Let's go, okay?" she said before getting into the car.

Fíli complied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think:)


	13. Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli waits at the hospital for Tauriel and Fíli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

Kíli was nervous.

His brother and his wife had promised to come and get him at ten am and now it was almost eleven am.

His first impulse was to call them, but then he noticed that for some reason he had forgotten to bring his phone with him. A part of him was angry with himself for being so inconsiderate, the other part with Fíli for not asking him if he had everything he needed.

Fíli always looked out for him. Only this time he obviously hadn't. Maybe because he had been too distracted by his little brother having a seriously infected wound. Or by the prospect of having his brother's wife all to himself for one night.

Whoa, where did that thought come from?

Never before had Kíli felt jealous when Fíli had spent some alone time with Tauriel (which had admittedly rarely been the case). She belonged to the both. Their babies were proof to that.

Kíli had already hinted as much when calling Rory his daughter and Teddy his nephew while talking to Tauriel. Of course, without any DNA testing it was all just speculation, but a part of him was convinced that Fíli had sired the blond-haired and green-eyed Teddy while Rory with her amber eyes and red hair was his daughter through and through. Kíli didn't know why, but he had always been good at predicting those kinds of things.

On the other hand, somewhere he had read that a spermatozoon carrying the X-chromosome was more resilient than the one with the Y-chromosome. Since Fíli had always been the first one to have Tauriel, it was likely that one of his little swimmers carrying the Y-chromosome had been the first one to meet with one of her fertile eggs, while Kíli's turn had been later.

Not to mention that non-identical twins didn't have to be conceived at the same time, sometimes the mother was ovulating again after a couple of hours or days. Maybe that was the reason he had a daughter, not a son. If Tauriel had been ovulating again after her first positive ovulation test, it was only logical that one of Kíli's spermatozoons carrying an X-chromosome had hit its mark later, so to speak, since they hadn't had sex daily.

Yet no one seemed to consider that Kíli could do his homework. And it didn't matter, though, at least not to him.

"Mr. Goldberg? How is your wrist?" a young nurse roused him from his thoughts. She was very petite and pretty, with long, light-blond hair and big, blue eyes.

Kíli smiled at her. "Oh, much better since it's been put in a plaster cast and you increased the dose of my pain killers," he answered.

The nurse giggled, blushing slightly. "Well, it was Doctor White who diagnosed that your wrist was cracked and prescribed the higher dose of pain medication, but thank you! By the way, do you need anything?" she asked slightly breathless, batting her eyelashes and Kíli noticed that she was flirting with him. He felt a pang of guilt, thinking of Tauriel who had been so worried about him, who now had to take care of the babies all by herself... Wait. She wasn't all by herself. Fíli and the others were there as well. Yet it wouldn't be fair to give the nurse hopes of a hook up when he was already taken. And he had no intention of ever being unfaithful to Tauriel.

"No, thank you, I'm fine. My wife will soon be here to take me home," he explained.

The nurse looked sad. "Oh, you're married? I wouldn't have guessed, you are so young..." she confessed.

Kíli chucked. "Thank you, but I'm already 25. And I have two kids," he elaborated.

The nurse bit her lip and nodded. "Well, that's good to hear," she offered, but her voice sounded bitter.

"Hey, don't worry, such a kind and pretty young woman like you will certainly find someone soon," he told her because he didn't like it when people were sad and this nurse was obviously sad and lonely.

"You are very nice, Mr. Goldberg," she admitted and smiled at him. Kíli reciprocated the smile.

Of course, this was the moment when Tauriel chose to enter his room with little Rory in her robin red baby carrier.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "I hope I'm not interrupting something?"

Kíli growled while the nurse whipped around, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Tauriel.

"Of course not, darling, Nurse... Danielle just asked if I needed anything," Kíli clarified, quickly reading the nurse's name tag. She had introduced herself earlier this morning, but at that time Kíli had been too distracted by the throbbing and dull pain in his wrist. To be honest the nasty wound on his thigh had provided enough distraction for the last two days so that he had completely forgotten about his injured wrist. Until this morning, when he had had trouble holding his cup of coffee and noticed that his wrist was swollen to almost twice the size of his other one.

The nurse cleared her throat. "All right, Mr. Goldberg, if you don't need anything else... I will send in Dr. White so that she can condone your leaving the hospital today, " she said and almost fled the room without looking at Tauriel, who still looked slightly pissed.

Kíli tried to use his famous charms on her. "What's wrong, darling? No kiss hello?" he asked suggestively.

Tauriel only rolled her eyes, placing the infant carrier on the table in Kíli's room, making sure that Rory was still sound asleep before coming over to Kíli's bed.

"I get the impression that you had a really good time here with Nurse Danielle," she remarked sarcastically.

Kíli rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Tau, I only got to know that nurse this morning when I almost dropped my cup of coffee because my wrist hurt like hell... Actually, I had totally forgotten about this injury until then... But now it's all fixed, see?"

He lifted his left arm to present his cast. "What do you say? You can be the first one to sign it? You know, you would make a dream come true with that when I was thirteen, I broke my right forearm and had to wear a cast as well. My biggest dream then had been that the queen bee of our school would sign it, yet she totally ignored me and the only ones willing to sign it had been Fíli, Mama, my uncles, Ori, and Gimli. Fíli even offered to fake another handwriting and sign the cast with a girl's name to cheer me up, but I refused," he confessed.

To Kíli's surprise, Tauriel smiled at this. "Well, then you are asking the wrong girl: I've never been the queen bee at school," she admitted.

Kíli raised his eyebrows. "What? Are you serious? Have your classmates all been blind?"

Tauriel chuckled and Kíli felt relieved. Then Tauriel tenderly took his left hand, regarding the cast with a serious expression.

"To be honest, I totally forgot about your wrist as well," she admitted.

It seemed that Tauriel had forgiven him. But then he frowned because something was missing.

"Tauriel? Where are Fíli and Teddy?" he wanted to know.

The red-head sat down on his bed, taking a deep breath. "Fíli is talking to the police..." she started to explain but was interrupted by Kíli.

"What? Did anything happen? Is he all right?" he asked worriedly, sitting up in bed.

Tauriel touched his forearm, obviously to calm him down. "Yes, he is fine, as is Teddy who is with him, by the way. But something happened at the cabin this morning..."

Kíli wanted to interrupt her again, but she gestured him to stay silent, so he waited patiently for her to continue.

"There was a huge fight between Sigrid and Ori and she drove off with his van. Then, on our way here, Fíli and I found the van at the side of the road without any trace of Sigrid. Since we didn't have reception in the woods, we needed to get into the next town. There we called the rangers about the crashed van and about Sigrid missing and they said that they would start a search and rescue, but that we should also contact the police because the van had obviously been involved in some kind of accident and it is unclear what has happened to Sigrid," she related.

Kíli nodded, feeling worried because one of his oldest friends - a girl he loved like a sister - has had an accident and was missing but he felt also a little bit disappointed because his brother and his son were not with him now. He already missed them. Thinking about it, Kíli realized that he had never been separated from Fíli for such a long time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while since the last update... Sorry!  
> I hope you are still interested in this story.  
> Please let me know what you think!


	14. Apparition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigrid follows the mystery woman through the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl.

When Sigrid found herself in the middle of the woods, she knew it had been a bad idea to follow the ghostly apparition. Maybe she had hit her head on the steering wheel when her van had collided with one of the trees and now she was simply hallucinating.

No, not her van, Ori's van, which she had stolen after being really mean to him. And now she would never have an opportunity to apologise to him since she didn't know where she was or how to get back to her friends.

Why didn't she stick to the road where she would have been found eventually?

Sigrid knew why. Because of the red-haired woman who had beckoned her into the woods. The woman that had reminded her of Tauriel.

Of course, she should have known that something was off because that woman was not dressed like a hiker, her long, white dress looked rather like a wedding dress. Yet more disturbing was the fact that this dress remained immaculately white although they were carving their way through the thicket. Sigrid's own clothing, burgundy capris and a sleeveless blouse in indigo blue, were already torn and dirty due to the brambles, the skin on her exposed shanks and arms was full of scratches,  leaves, and twigs stuck to her dark blond curls she had pulled together in half-up, like the hairstyle Tauriel almost always wore.

Sigrid remembered Kíli's injury after he had run into the woods two days ago, the tear in his thigh that had bled badly and which she had cleaned, sewed, and dressed (and although she had washed her hands several times afterwards, she still had found the residue of his blood beneath her nails the next morning).

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes when she thought back to this day. Not only because she now feared to never see her friends (or family) again or because she was afraid that if she found back, her friends would reject her, but also because she remembered how good it had felt to hold little Rory and Teddy in her arms. Although they weren't her children - she wasn't even related to them - she felt so much love for the babies. And then Tauriel had told her only yesterday that she would never again let Sigrid take care of them again. This statement had really hurt her, especially since she hadn't done anything wrong. She had just tried to get Rory to feed. However, it appeared that Tauriel was quite overprotective of her children. 

On the other hand, Sigrid could understand that, considering the fact that the other woman had already lost a child.

However, Tauriel should have trusted her friend, Sigrid, the nurse. Rory and Teddy weren't the first babies Sigrid took care of. At the age of ten, she had already helped her sick mother to tend to her baby sister, Tilda. Later, when her mother had gotten worse and needed to be institutionalized, she had completely taken care of a two-year-old Tilda, at least in the afternoons and evenings. Her father had paid a middle-aged woman living in the neighbourhood who had run her own business to look after Tilda until Sigrid had come home from school.

Sigrid had always fetched her sister from their neighbour and had taken her home, playing with her, changing her diapers feeding her fruit and cookies and milk, until Bain had also arrived home (after school, he usually went to football practice or his chess club, when he was not staying at a friend's, that is). Then it had been her task to prepare dinner for the family while Bain would look after Tilda, sometimes even unintentionally annoying her so that the little girl would come running into the kitchen, crying and clutching at Sigrid's legs who tried to heat up some soup or macaroni and cheese so that her father, her siblings, and she would have something to fill their bellies with when their Da would come home from his double shift at the local supermarket.

Her life hadn't been an easy one so far, yet she had loved every second of it since in her opinion there was nothing more valuable than Tilda's happy smile as a toddler when Sigrid had come to get her at their neighbour's or Bain's grateful expression as she had signed one of his class tests, pretending to be their mother, when he had gotten a bad grade in maths and had been too afraid to tell their Da (not because he had feared some kind of punishment but because he couldn't stand the thought that their father would be disappointed in him).

And it was only due to these memories that Sigrid didn't give up now. She needed to find a way out of this thicket, and somehow she was sure that this wouldn't be the case if she kept following that woman.

She abruptly stopped dead in her tracks, taking in her surroundings. There were several hiking trails leading through this forest, so it must be possible to come across one of them at some point.

"Come!" a piercing voice sounded in her head and Sigrid winced, almost immediately looking back to the woman in the white dress. To her surprise, the woman had somehow approached her and was standing only an arm's length away from her. But something was wrong with her appearance... She didn't seem to be solid.

Sigrid's heart stopped. She didn't believe in ghosts, yet there was no way that this woman was real, like her. Instinctively, she took a step back, shaking her head vehemently.

"No," she whispered.

Suddenly the woman's facial features changed, became distorted. She no longer looked beautiful but rather frightening and Sigrid decided then and there that she needed to get away from this woman.

She immediately turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, not caring about vines almost making her trip or branches whipping her face. Sigrid didn't dare to turn around to find out if the woman's apparition was still following her, she just kept running until she reached a small clearing. There she stopped to catch her breath and look around.

The apparition was obviously gone.

Sigrid flopped down onto the ground, lying down in the grass, feeling relieved about having been able to escape the woman's apparition yet still being concerned about the fact that she got lost in the woods.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Yay!  
> 


	15. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tauriel and Kíli are leaving the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another chapter of this story. I hope you'll enjoy it!  
> I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

Thirty minutes after Tauriel's arrival at the hospital, she was already helping her husband into her car. His doctor, a very thin and stern looking, middle aged woman with short, brown hair and thick glasses had given her okay for Kíli leaving the hospital, prescribing some antibiotics, painkillers and antiseptic ointment, giving instructions about changing the bandages two times a day and applying the ointment and telling him to come back in two days because his injury still needed to be monitored.

"Are we now driving to the police station to get Fíli?" Kíli asked when Tauriel got into the driver's seat of her car.

"Of course," she answered, "do you think we would leave him here, together with little Teddy?"

Kíli chuckled. "No, of course not. You know what, I can’t' wait to see him again - well, and Teddy. It felt so strange being separated from you all for almost twenty-four hours," he confessed.

Tauriel smiled at him. "Yeah, we missed you too!"

Kíli frowned. "Really?" His voice sounded so surprised that Tauriel took his left hand into hers. Only then she noticed something (something she hadn't noticed before in the hospital). He wasn't wearing his wedding band.

"Where's your ring?" she asked sharply.

Kíli's eyes widened. "Oh shit! I had to take it off for the x-rays this morning. I think it must still be in the pocket of my sweatpants where I have put it," he explained, frantically searching his pocket.

"You think? Kíli! Have you forgotten how much we have paid for those rings? They are custom-made, textured damask steel and titanium rings, not to mention the unusual engraving! You have to be kidding me!" Tauriel exclaimed.

"Stop nagging, it's here all right!" Kíli explained, fishing the precious ring out of his pocket and presenting it to her. After putting it on, he grinned deviously at her. "By the way, yours was more expensive than mine or Fíli's since yours is also adorned with a diamond!"

Tauriel rolled her eyes. "You insisted on the diamond for my ring and were willing to pay the additional 185 Euros for the 0.03 carat white brilliant. For me, the diamond on my engagement ring was already enough," she answered.

Kíli shrugged. "Well, I thought this way the wedding band would fit perfectly to your engagement ring with the star-shaped diamond for you are my star - our star, Fíli's and mine - and will always guide us home, like the North Star!" he revealed.

Shaking her head, Tauriel giggled. "Oh my, I think you might have overdosed on your painkillers!"

Then she started the car's engine, left the hospital's parking lot, and drove onto the main road. Ten minutes later they reached the police station. After parking her car, Tauriel helped Kíli getting out of the passenger seat, then she opened the door to the car's back seat, taking out Rory in her baby carrier before the three of them (Kíli leaning heavily on Tauriel's shoulder while she was also carrying their little daughter) made their way into the police station.

Fíli was already waiting for them, sitting in one of the plastic chairs they provided there, rocking his crying son in his arms while the river blue baby carrier was placed in the chair next to him, on his left.

"Fíli!" Kíli exclaimed, freeing himself from Tauriel and half running, half stumbling to his brother, sitting heavily down in the chair to Fíli's right, throwing his arms around the older male.

"Oh, Kíli!"

Fíli reciprocated the embrace with one arm while still holding little Teddy, pressing his forehead to his brothers. Then, to everyone's surprise, Kíli briefly pecked Fíli's lips, totally ignoring the disapproving snort coming from the police officer sitting at the reception desk.

Fíli cleared his throat. "What was that for, Kee?"

Tauriel chuckled. "Well, I think he just overdosed on his painkillers," she answered, walking over to the brothers and her son.

Fíli smiled at her. "Time to go home?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, let's go home... By the way, what will they do about Sigrid?"

Fíli sighed. "First, they will tow the minivan to this station. Then, the police will join forces with the rangers in order to find Sigrid in the woods..."

He interrupted himself frowning.

Tauriel drew her eyebrows together, sitting down in the chair next to Kíli, putting the baby carrier on the floor between her feet, looking at Fíli.

"What's wrong?" she wanted to know.

Fíli sighed. "The police mentioned that Sigrid might have gotten into another car, someone who drove by the site of the accident, offering her to take her to the next town... Somebody with bad intentions."

Hearing about this possibility, Tauriel's stomach dropped. Yes, there had been some dissensions between her and the other, younger woman, but Sigrid was still her friend, even though the girl was obviously desperate for being fucked by Fíli... But Tauriel didn't want to let her thoughts wander into that direction.

"I hope they'll find her soon, safe and sound," Tauriel declared.

"Me too," Kíli added, then he took Teddy from his brother's arm, kissing the baby's forehead. Immediately, the baby calmed down.

"Ha! See? He likes me better than you, Fee," Kíli announced and Fíli simply rolled his eyes but then he frowned. "Why are you wearing a cast on your wrist?" he asked. Apparently, he had also forgotten about this injury and so Kíli told the whole story about almost dropping his coffee again. Tauriel couldn't help but smile at her little family. Yes, this was her own little family and she loved them dearly.

"Let's go home," she said, grabbed Rory's baby carrier, and stood up.

Kíli looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Home? Or back to the cabin?" he wanted to know.

Tauriel sighed. "Of course I mean back to the cabin. We are supposed to be on our honeymoon," she answered.

Kíli snorted. "Yeah, some kind of honeymoon!"

Then he passed Teddy back to his brother who put the infant into his baby carrier before following Tauriel's example of getting ready to leave, carrying his son in the baby carrier with one hand, supporting his brother with the other.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that there are several stories I need to finish, but for some reason, my muse wants me to focus on this one first.  
> I hope you appreciate the increase in updates and I would be happy to read your comments on this story!


	16. Driving Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to GrammarGrrrl, my beta, and Nina for continually commenting on this fic!  
> Furthermore, I'd like to thank Iscalibtra for her input on breastfeeding. I hope I cleared things up a bit. (Eight-week-old babies need to be breastfed every three to four hours, though some babies can go with longer intervals, especially at night.)

On their way back to the cabin, they had to stop three times.

The first time was still in town because they needed to get Kili's medicine and Tauriel also remembered that they had to buy supplies for the next couple of days since the things they had brought with them on this trip were almost all gone by now. So, while Fili and Tauriel went to the pharmacist and afterwards did some grocery shopping, Kili stayed in the car with the babies. He had even insisted on sitting between the baby carriers on the back seat because he had really missed their son and their daughter, although it wasn't quite comfortable for him with his injured leg.

The second time was when they passed a gas station on the country road on their way to the forest because Tauriel's car needed refuelling and Kili needed to use the bathroom. Fili helped him to get out of the car and accompanied him to the men's lavatory in case Kili needed assistance due to his handicaps, the cracked wrist, and injured leg, while Tauriel filled up her car.

The third time was after they had entered the forest because the babies got hungry and needed to be fed. Again, Tauriel noticed that her milk supply was decreasing since the babies were suckling at her nipples rather aggressively so that it slightly hurt and they were pressing their little hands against her breasts as if they tried to squeeze more milk out of them. And then they still appeared to be hungry after feeding, crying and fussing.

It was no wonder, however, because over the last couple of days, Tauriel had forgotten to take her supplements regularly and not eaten enough (and thinking about not taking the supplements regularly left her with a bad feeling, almost as if she had forgotten something else). Maybe she should have bought some formula in the supermarket, just to be on the safe side.

For a moment, she considered telling her husbands that they needed to drive back to town, but after one glance at Kili, she decided against it. He still looked sick, his face pale and there were dark circles beneath his eyes and driving back to town would cost them another forty-five to sixty minutes. So, she just had to take better care of herself, eat regularly, drink more (especially water and her special tea for breastfeeding mums) and let her babies latch onto her breasts more often.

"What's wrong with them?" Fili suddenly asked, gesturing towards the crying and fussing babies. Tauriel sighed. "I fear I'm not producing enough milk to feed them properly," she confessed.

Fili frowned. "Are you sure? What shall we do?" he wanted to know, taking Teddy from her, holding the baby close to his chest, rocking him gently. It appeared as if being near his dad was calming Teddy down for now.

Tauriel closed her nursing bra, then the buttons on the front of her light green, sleeveless blouse, still holding Rory who was especially clingy today. Then she turned towards Fili. "Well, there are only two options: On the one hand, we can drive back to town and buy some formula, on the other I can take better care of myself and nurse them more often," she explained.

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's drive back and get the formula for our babies before they get malnourished or will starve!" Kili called from the back seat, panic evident in his voice.

Tauriel rolled her eyes and Fili chuckled. "They won't starve that quickly, Kee. Yet you also got me worried, there, Tau. What do you mean with not taking properly care of yourself?" he asked.

Tauriel shifted Rory's weight so that her baby's head was now resting on her shoulder and Rory could look around, something which the baby normally liked since she was a very lively and curious child. And, indeed, her crying subsided almost immediately.

Tauriel cleared her throat. "The usual, eating regularly and the right foods, drinking enough to avoid dehydration, nursing the babies regularly or pumping milk," she confessed.

"It's our fault then," Kili concluded, "Fili's and mine. Especially mine. I have totally screwed up your schedule with my idiotic behaviour and the consequences resulting from it!"

Tauriel turned towards him, opening her mouth to appease her husband, but Fili beat her to it. Extending a hand and putting it on his brother's right knee he declared, "I think we have all screwed up, Kee. Nobody has behaved rationally or been on their best behaviour..." For a moment, he hesitated, then he added, "I think it's the cabin. Tauriel, what do you know about it?"

Tauriel shrugged which led to Rory making a displeased noise. "Not much. I told you that while we were planning this trip and I had already checked different cabins at different locations that were suitable for our needs, the ad for this cabin was suddenly in my mailbox. And it was a special offer! You know that we are a little low on money at the moment, all of us, and since we had decided to go together, the whole gang, I had to find something that was affordable. This cabin seemed to be ideal for our needs," she explained.

"I think Rory is asleep," Kili suddenly whispered, leaning towards the driver's seat, extending his arms, requesting, "Can I hold her please?"

For a moment, Tauriel was tempted to say "No" because over the last couple of days her daughter had become very dependent on her (even last night, when Legolas and Gimli had volunteered to babysit Teddy and Rory, her brother had to bring Rory to her every couple of hours since the little girl still refused to be fed with the bottle and only calmed down in her mother's arms - even thinking about this made her blush, considering the fact that she and Fili had been stark naked beneath their blanket as Legolas had woken her up the first time to tend to Rory).

"Yeah, of course, she is your daughter, after all," Tauriel answered instead, handing over the baby to her husband. It was a cute sight, seeing Kili with the baby. He was such a loving father, to both babies, actually. Unlike Fili, who unconsciously seemed to prefer Teddy, the child that looked like a replica of himself - except for the green eyes - Kili treated Teddy and Rory equally.

"So, you don't know anything about the cabin's history? Or our landlord?" Fili inquired further. Tauriel shook her head. "Sorry, no, I didn't know that I should have done some research before booking the cabin," she snapped.

"Whoa, I wasn't criticising you, you know, just asking," Fili replied defensively.

"Well, it almost sounded like you were," Tauriel replied angrily.

This time, it was Kili who interfered. "Guys, stop it, all right? It was fighting which led to all this shit!" he declared vehemently.

Tauriel and Fili sighed. "You are right, Kee. We should stop accusing each other or feeling attacked for no reason... Nevertheless, I think it's time to continue driving back to the cabin," Fili said and Kili nodded. "Yeah, let's put the babies back into their carriers. But when we're back at the cabin, I'd like to take a nap while holding Teddy and Rory. Unlike you two, I couldn't hold them yesterday or last night or this morning," he said while placing their daughter in her baby carrier.

Fili and Tauriel exchanged a glance before Fili handed Teddy over to his brother so that the little boy could also be put back into his carrier.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoever is reading this fic, I hope you enjoy and appreciate the updates!


	17. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fíli, Kíli and Tauriel arrive at the cabin with their babies and Sigrid is still missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!  
> Furthermore, I'd like to thank Angus_Young_Forever_ACDC for suggesting that Kíli would sleep while holding his babies after he comes back from the hospital and Cassidy_And_The_Company, Nina and Iscalibtra for leaving comments on the previous chapter!

Of  course Gimli, Ori, and Legolas were relieved when Fíli,  Kíli, and Tauriel returned with their babies. Yet, the joy of their reunion was overshadowed by their worries about Sigrid. 

After reaching town, Fíli had first called their friends in the cabin, telling them that he and Tauriel had found Ori's van but not Sigrid and he had wanted to know whether Sigrid had maybe returned to the cabin (which she hadn't) and despite their fight, Ori still cared for his ex-fiancée. So, Gimli and Legolas had been busy to calm him down, coming up with best-case-scenarios why Sigrid hadn't been in the proximity of the van. 

When Tauriel, Fíli and Kíli arrived with their babies at the cabin, Ori was sitting on the front porch, his head in his hands and flanked by Gimli and Legolas. Kíli's report about his medical condition had been a short distraction for Ori, but after Fíli had helped his brother into the cabin and to their bedroom so that Kíli could lie down and rest while holding his babies (who were now sleeping peacefully), Ori had continued brooding.

After Kíli had been taken care of (meaning that Tauriel placed a bottle of water and his medicine on the bed side table), Fíli and Tauriel joined Ori, Gimli, and Legolas outside. 

"Maybe it's all my fault," Ori remarked.

Fíli raised an eyebrow, "Why would you say that?"

Ori just shrugged, "Well, she wouldn't have called off out engagement if I had made her happy. Apparently, I wasn't able to do so," he answered and Fíli hated how depressed his younger cousin sounded. He thought back to the evening when Ori had proposed to Sigrid. It had been last New Year's Eve and they had all celebrated together. Sigrid had seemed quite happy at that time, at least to him. Maybe she was just a good actress.

"That's nonsense, Ori. I've seen how well you've always treated her, trying to indulge her every whim, renting the apartment she preferred though it was more expensive, watching the movies she liked, going out whenever she was in the mood, although you were tired, staying home whenever she wanted to, no matter what your own plans for the evening were... So, don't try to blame yourself for her unhappiness," Tauriel explained.

Fíli raised an eyebrow, "Wow, Tauriel, you make it sound as if Ori is a really good catch... Maybe I should reconsider my commitment to you and start wooing him," he joked. However, Gimli was the only one who chuckled. Ori stared wide-eyed at him whereas Tauriel looked angry and Legolas appalled. 

Fíli groaned, "It was supposed to be funny, you know? I was trying to lighten the mood, guys!" he defended his comment. Yet, the others (except Gimli) still stared strangely at him. 

Fíli sighed, took out his cigarettes and a lighter. Of course, Gimli scrounged one from him, yet when he offered the others to Ori, he declined. "Oh, no, thank you. I quit smoking around  Easter when Sigrid and I moved in together. She didn't like it," he elaborated. 

Gimli just snorted whereas Fíli shrugged and put his cigarettes and the lighter away. For a while, the five young people sat together in companionable silence. Then, Legolas declared, "It's such a beautiful day and except for searching the woods for Tauriel's wayward husband and his brother, I wasn't able to go hiking. Yet that was the reason why I agreed on going on this trip. Gimli, what do you say? Care to join me for a hike in the forest?"

Gimli shrugged. "Why not? We haven't done anything on this holiday so far, except for worrying and baby-sitting," he answered, finishing his cigarette, then standing up and offering Legolas his hand. The taller, blond young man took it and let Gimli pull him to his feet. "We won't be long - just following one of the trails for inexperienced hikers to the lake. We should be back for dinner," he explained.

Fíli frowned. "Well, make sure that you won't get lost - I think one more incident and the rangers will kick us out. Somehow I imagine that they are already referring to us as the most troublesome group they have ever met," he tried to joke again and, of course, nobody seemed to get it. Fíli sighed, finishing his cigarette as well.

After Legolas and Gimli were on their way, Ori declared that he had to inform Sigrid's family about her disappearance and went into the cabin in order to call Sigrid's father. So, Fíli and Tauriel were the only ones remaining on the front porch. Since Fíli was bored, he lighted another cigarette, regarding the lush green meadow with different wild flowers surrounding their cabin and the  woods encompassing the property. 

"Fíli, what was between you and Sigrid?" Tauriel suddenly asked and Fíli almost dropped his cigarette. He had totally forgotten that Tauriel had been witness to his fight with Sigrid in which the younger woman had revealed something about their past. Something which he had almost forgotten and was certainly not proud of.

So, clearing his throat, he answered, "She had a crush on me as a teenager. I knew about it, of course, and must admit that I flirted a little bit with her. Of course, Sigrid thought that I was also interested in her, which I wasn't, not  really, because she was too young. Then, on her eighteenth birthday, both of us got a little bit drunk and we started making out. Later, we ended up in her room. I didn't sleep with her, though."

Fíli could see that his words hurt Tauriel since she drew her eyebrows together and lowered her gaze, fiddling with her wedding band. She took several deep breaths, then she turned towards him. "How far did you go?" she wanted to know.

Fíli drew on his cigarette, inhaling the smoke deeply before answering, "She gave me a blow job, her first one, as she claimed. And I went down on her."

Tauriel nodded slowly, then she remarked, "Yet you didn't sleep with her, as you said before. Why not? According to Sigrid, she was practically begging you to fuck her!"

Fíli could hear the bitterness in her voice. On the one hand, he understood. Sigrid and Tauriel had grown close over the last eighteen months. Of course, she felt somehow betrayed. On the other hand, it had all happened long before he and Kíli had met Tauriel, so, why was it bothering her so much?

"I couldn't. Believe it or not, but it felt wrong. I suddenly sobered up and told her that I wouldn't sleep with her and she grew desperate, suggesting that I could go and get Kíli, that she wouldn't mind to have sex with him as well since he and I usually shared girls. Her only condition was that she wanted me to be her first," Fíli revealed.

Tauriel laughed, shaking her head. "That doesn't sound like her at all, at least not like the Sigrid I got to know! Tell me, Fíli, did she despise me the whole time, always thinking that it should have been her in your bed, not me? Just pretending to be my friend?"

Fili didn't know how to answer this. He didn't believe that Sigrid had consciously deceived Tauriel, only pretending to be her friend. Sigrid wasn't like that! Yet, attacking Ori, throwing her engagement ring at his feet and stealing his van didn't sound like her either. Fíli somehow felt as if he didn't know the girl he almost considered a sister at all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this fic and, as always, I'd like to know what you think!


	18. Losing Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fíli loses control. Is it due to the presence?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

Fíli stood in the doorway leading into their cabin's kitchen and watched Tauriel preparing dinner: two baking tins of pizza. Her hair was tied back into a low ponytail and she was wearing black leggings and an olive-green, oversized t-shirt, revealing one of her creamy shoulders, adorned with golden freckles.

A part of him wanted to walk over to her, wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her bare shoulder. Yet he somehow felt that this gesture wasn't welcome. After their talk in the afternoon, their talk about Sigrid, Tauriel had turned cold towards him.

Fíli observed how she was kneading the dough Sigrid had already prepared yesterday since, according to her, pizza dough had to rest for twenty-four hours before it could be spread onto the baking tin and then covered with all the ingredients they liked. Otherwise, it would become too dry and hard. If Sigrid had been here, preparing dinner would have been her task. Of course, Fíli could also cook a few easy meals but nothing special. Unlike Sigrid. If Fíli was honest, Sigrid was as good at cooking as Bilbo and his mother, although she was so young.

Thinking about Sigrid and watching Tauriel made his heart sink. Two of the most important women in his life were obviously angry with him. And yet he didn't even know if one of those two women would ever return to them...

"What do you want, Fíli?" Tauriel suddenly asked without looking at him.

Fíli winced. How did she do that, knowing that he was standing there? He cleared his throat. "I... I'm just," he actually didn't know what to say.

Tauriel turned towards him, her hands covered in flour and her eyebrows drawn together, “You what?” She asked, and Fíli just shook his head.

He remembered the Tauriel from last night, the Tauriel he had had sex with, the way her long, red hair had been spread out on the pillow, the way she had moaned and screamed his name, the way her nails had scratched his back. Somehow, he felt that this Tauriel was gone, that the Tauriel in front of him wouldn't let him touch her ever again. Yet, he did nothing wrong! The little episode between him and Sigrid had happened about five years ago, so why was Tauriel so jealous? She had had sexual relationships before as well, and neither him nor Kíli had been pissed about that fact… Well, maybe except her being with Bolg since that asshole had treated her badly.

Instead of apologizing, Fíli said something completely different, "You know that I love you, don't you?"

Tauriel frowned, "Yeah, I know. What's going on?"

Fíli sighed. "Well, you tell me! I somehow have the feeling that you are rejecting me since I told you what had happened between me and Sigrid. Honestly, Tauriel, it was ages ago!" He tried to argue but she interrupted him.

"Well, it might have been a long time ago, yet Sigrid still feels something for you. Something which is more than just friendship," she declared. She turned back to the pizza dough, spreading it on the baking tins, grabbing the pot with tomato sauce, distributing it evenly on the dough and totally ignoring him.

Fíli hated it; if she had beef with him she should tell him to his face, not get butthurt!

Growling under his breath he strode over to her, grabbed her left upper arm, and spun her around so that she had to face him.

Tauriel’s eyes widened. "Fíli! Let go of me, now!" she demanded, yet Fíli only increased the pressure and Tauriel gasped.

"No, I will not let go until you tell me what your problem is!" he retorted.

Tauriel tried to free herself and Fíli immediately grabbed her other arm as well. Tauriel dropped the cooking spoon with which she had put the tomato sauce onto the pizza dough and it fell clattering to the ground.

"Fíli! Let. Go. Of. Me. Now!" Tauriel said again, louder this time and her eyes flashed.

Fíli could feel his manhood stir, seeing her like this, trapped between the countertop and him, angry, her eyes wild. For a moment, he considered kissing her but then he decided against it. There were too many dangerous objects, like sharp knives and heavy pans, within her reach.

Yet, he moved closer to her so that their bodies were touching. Tauriel's eyes widened when she could feel his hardness.

"Fíli, I swear to God, if you don't release me immediately, I'll scream bloody murder!" she threatened.

Normally, he would have snapped out of it, but he could feel something… some dark force, urging him on, testing her limits, provoking her.

"Oh yeah? Fine, do it! I like it when you scream," he answered and didn't even know where the words came from.

He could see Tauriel opening her mouth and taking a deep breath, preparing to scream, when a well-known voice interfered.

"What's going on?"

It was Kíli.

Instantly, Fíli let go of Tauriel and spun around to face his brother.

Kíli stood in the doorway to the kitchen, clutching one of their babies to his chest, scowling at the scene in front of him. If the pink blanket with the yellow stars was any indication, it must have been Rory.

"Kíli!" Tauriel breathed, then she put some distance between herself and Fíli.

It appeared as if Kíli didn't hear her, the way his eyes were glued to his brother. "What were you doing with my wife?" he asked calmly.

Fíli laughed humourlessly. " _Your_ wife? I thought we agreed that she is _our_ wife", he retorted.

Kíli frowned. "Of course she is _our_ wife, as long as you treat her well... I just got the impression that you were trying to harm her", he shot back.

Fíli snorted. "Honestly, you should use less painkillers, they seem to affect your brain! I would _never_ do her any harm!" he shouted at his brother, balling his hands into fists.

His raised voice must have startled Rory since she started crying. In an instant, Tauriel was at Kíli's side, taking the baby from him.

"Oh, I think you were trying to harm me, Fíli!" she mumbled, then left the kitchen, pressing Rory to her chest.

"See, Fíli? It's not the painkillers that make me see things. Tauriel also got the impression that something was wrong with you," Kíli said, then he limped over to his brother and put his hands on his shoulders, adding, "Talk to me, brother. Something is definitely bothering you... What's going on?"

For a moment, Fíli looked into his baby brother's pleading eyes, almost answering that it was the cabin affecting him, but then he lowered his gaze and brushed Kíli's hands off, too overwhelmed by the sudden urge to punch the younger man, something he had never done before and something he would never do, rather cutting his own hands off!

So, without another word, he went over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer, and left the kitchen through the patio door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading:)  
> Please let me know what you think!


	19. Damage Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli tries to comfort Tauriel... Then they discover something unsettling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my beta, GrammarGrrrl for her awesome work!  
> Thanks to Cassidy_And_The_Company for commenting on the last chapter.

For a moment, Kíli didn't know what to do. A part of him wanted to follow his brother onto the patio, another part wanted to go to Tauriel and make sure she was okay. She was his wife, after all. Yet, Fíli was his brother...

Guessing that maybe Fíli needed a moment to himself, to come back to his senses, Kíli decided to go to Tauriel.

When he entered the living room, she was sitting in an armchair, breastfeeding Rory. He could see that she was crying, yet, as he approached her, she wiped the tears away.

"Kíli!" she said, smiling shyly.

"Hey," he replied, limping over to one of the couches, sitting down, pretending that he hadn't seen her tears since he knew she didn't like to cry in front of others.

For a moment, they sat in companionable silence, the only sounds coming from the greedily drinking baby.  _Their_ baby. Rory.

"Care to tell me what happened in the kitchen?" Kíli finally asked.

Tauriel frowned. "I don't know how much you witnessed," she answered honestly, focussing entirely on the child in her arms.  _His_ child.

Kíli shrugged. "Not much. I only saw Fíli pressing you against the countertop, holding your arms in a vice like grip while there was definitely fear written upon your face," he revealed.

Tauriel laughed humourlessly. "Oh, I was terrified, believe me! I've never seen him like this before," she confessed.

"Me neither. Fíli has always been a gentleman when dealing with women," Kíli agreed.

They fell silent again, watching their daughter drink. And though it was a peaceful picture, Kíli suddenly felt a sense of dread.

When he and Fíli had registered on the website for co-parents, they had just wanted to become fathers. None of the women they had met in real life had been mother material and since men couldn't get pregnant, they had had to find a woman they liked and who was willing to carry their child. They had never dreamed about finding love in the process. Yet they had. Tauriel. She was a gift from the Gods above, accepting them as a duo,  Kíli and Fíli, brothers who would never be separated, not even by marriage or fatherhood.

However, now it seemed that it was all going down the drain, the unique relationship he and Fíli and Tauriel had forged.

Why? Kíli didn't know.

When Tauriel had gotten pregnant again after her miscarriage, with twins nonetheless, Kíli and his brother had been more than happy. Now they were the fathers of two wonderful babies... So, what was wrong with them to jeopardize all that?

Yet Kíli didn't have time to finish this thought since Rory had obviously finished drinking and Tauriel readjusted the baby's position to burp her.

"What about Teddy?" she asked out of the blue.

Kíli needed a moment to understand what she meant with that.

"Oh, he is sleeping peacefully in his crib. As soon as I woke up from my nap, a slightly snoring Teddy greeted me - I swear he got this from Fíli - and a happily gurgling Rory. So, I put Teddy in his crib and decided to walk around the cabin with Rory. If she takes after me, she'll get easily bored and I wanted to entertain her," he explained, implying again the assumed paternity of the twins.

Yet, Tauriel's reaction unsettled him. "You left our baby boy alone in the bedroom?" she asked sharply.

Kíli drew his eyebrows together. "Yeah. Why?"

Tauriel didn't answer, just got up from the armchair and Kíli briefly wondered how she could do that so gracefully while holding a baby.

"Tauriel?" he called her name, getting up from the couch as well.

She turned towards him. "It's just something that Fíli said," she mumbled, then stormed into the direction of the corridor and their bedroom.

Kíli followed her as fast as he could.

"He... he is gone! Kíli, my son, he is not in his crib! What... what did you do to him?" she screamed.

Kíli stared open-mouthed at the empty crib. He knew that he had put the baby into it!

"Nothing! Tauriel, I swear to God that I placed Teddy in his crib after I got up... Do you really think that I would hurt our son?" he demanded to know, looking into her eyes.

After a while, Tauriel averted her gaze, sighing. "Of course not. But where is he? Where is Teddy?" she asked, looking frantically around the room.

Her panic unsettled Rory again, who started crying heartbreakingly. It wasn't the first time that Kíli noticed the strong bond between their daughter and her mother... A part of him wanted to believe that it was due to the fact that she was his and that his love for Tauriel was stronger, purer than his brother's love for her... But his love for Fíli prevented him from really acknowledging those possessive thoughts.

"Kíli, where is he? Where is Teddy?", she wanted to know, looking at him desperately while rocking Rory.

"I don't know... I put him into his crib, I really did!" he answered, "Maybe he started crying and Ori or Legolas and Gimli took the baby with them to calm him down?" Kíli suggested, not really believing it.

Tauriel shook her head. "After talking to Sigrid's father, Ori went straight to the room he shares with Sigrid, claiming to have a terrible headache, needing to lie down. And Gimli and Legolas are hiking in the woods," she explained.

Kíli teared his hair. "Then... I don't know, but maybe Fíli... I mean, Teddy's his son... so maybe he took the baby?" he stuttered and saw relief washing over Tauriel's face.

"Yeah, of course... I mean, why not? So, where is Fíli?" she inquired.

The first thing that came to Kíli's mind was that his brother must have taken the baby outside with him. He hoped that he did!

"The patio! After you have left the kitchen, Fíli went onto the patio. Maybe we'll find him there, with Teddy!" he suggested.

So, Kíli and Tauriel went back to the kitchen and from there onto the patio while Tauriel was still holding a crying Rory.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all of your kudos and comments, so please let me know what you think!


	20. Brooding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fíli thinks about what has just transpired and how it could have come to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!  
> I'd also like to thank Nina and Cassidy_And_The_Company for their reviews on the last chapter.

Fíli was pissed, really pissed. Yet he didn't know why or with whom. Maybe with Kíli and Tauriel, maybe with himself, maybe with Sigrid.

No, he couldn't be angry with Sigrid. She was still missing, nobody knew what had happened to  her, if she would ever come back to them. 

Poor Ori! Fíli didn't envy him. First, he had to find out that he had only been some sort of substitute, then he had to inform Sigrid's father about her disappearance. No wonder the guy got a headache! Ori has always had a delicate condition, being constantly ill as a child, missing school for weeks on end. Kíli, on the other hand, had been prone to accidents, breaking his arm, twisting his ankle, skinning his elbows and knees, getting a concussion... And while Gimli had been the daredevil of their group, Fíli had always been the boring, responsible one, taking care of everyone and everything.

That was his role, not only regarding his friends and little brother (well actually brothers since Frodo was also his little brother) but also with his wife and children. If he could still call her his  _wife_ . Maybe he finally fucked up and she would only be his  _sister-in-law_ from now on. 

Of course, Tauriel was angry with him, considering the fact that he had almost forced himself on her. Fíli still felt sick when he thought about what had transpired in the kitchen. If Kíli hadn't walked in then, Fíli didn't know what would have happened. How should he ever gain Tauriel's trust again? He knew what that bastard, Bolg, had done to her.

What was wrong with him? How could he have lost control like that, almost harming the woman he loved?

Fíli took another sip of beer and noticed that the bottle was empty. To distract himself, he took out his cigarettes and lighted one.

A part of him wanted to go get his  brother so that they could get drunk together like they had done a billion times before. Yet another part was convinced that Kíli was with his wife, with  _their_ wife, and  certainly Tauriel had already told her husband that Fíli had made her bleed last night.

Had she really wanted it that rough? Fíli wasn't so sure now. Thinking about it, he  _had_ been rather dominant... Maybe she hadn't scratched his back in the throes of passion but because he had hurt her and she had tried to defend herself?

But she had said that she was okay this morning!

He didn't know what to believe any more, to distinguish reality from fantasy.

Fíli noticed that he had almost finished his cigarette yet the smoking had not quenched his thirst for another drink. Sighing, Fíli grinded out his cigarette in the ashtray which was still sitting on the table and went back into the kitchen to grab another bottle of beer.

Everything was still the way Tauriel had left it, the unfinished pizzas on the countertop, the chopped ingredients ready to be put on the pizza, the cooking spoon on the floor.

When Fíli leant down to at least pick up the cooking spoon and put in the sink, he noticed a smear of tomato sauce on the hem of his beige t-shirt and the front of his light-blue jeans. It was probably from when Tauriel had dropped the spoon as he had spun her around.

So, Fíli decided that he needed to change his clothes and after placing the cooking spoon in the sink, he went to the bedroom he shared with Kíli and Tauriel. As soon as he entered the corridor he could hear a baby crying. Frowning, he quickened his pace, entered the bedroom, and walked over to the cribs. Rory's crib was empty, as he had expected, but little Teddy was lying in his crib, crying heartbreakingly, flailing his chubby arms and legs.

Fíli felt angry again.

Of course, Kíli and Tauriel would forget about Teddy, focusing all their attention on Rory since she was their daughter, completing them and their perfect relationship. Teddy was no one to them, just like him, just the third wheel.

"Shh, don't cry, my precious, your Dad's here," Fíli cooed, lifting his son out of the crib, cradling him in his arms. Immediately, the baby stopped crying, looking up at him from his big green eyes. So, the child wasn't hungry, just lonely, and bored and querulous. Well, that would make two of them. 

Suddenly, Fíli didn't feel the urge to get another drink any more, he would rather like to go outside with his son and explain to him the different trees and plants, growing around and on their property, like his uncle Thorin used to do with him, before Kíli was born, of course. Then Thorin had bestowed all his attention on his younger nephew. Thankfully, Frerin had still been alive at that time and he had taken care of him. Until uncle Frerin had died...

Yes, Fíli would go outside with Teddy, just the two of them: he and his son.

So, he wrapped the light blue baby blanket with the green stars tighter around the baby because it was already evening and the heat of the day had been replaced by a light chill. Then he left the bedroom, walked through the creepy corridor, unconsciously pressing the baby closer to his chest, then going back into the kitchen, checking the fridge for baby bottles with Tauriel's breastmilk, just in case Teddy _got_ hungry, and finally leaving the cabin.

It was a nice, peaceful summer evening. The air smelled of wood and grass and herbs, crickets were chirping and birds were singing. Fíli couldn't help but smile. His anger was suddenly gone.

"See, Teddy? Those trees around our property are called birch trees, they usually grow in northern temperate and boreal climates. I'm also pretty sure that there is some swamp hiding behind the tree line," he explained.

Teddy looked at him interestingly, making some noises that could be interpreted as confirmation. Then he gurgled and smiled at him.

Fíli could feel his heart melt.

This was his son he was holding in his arms, the child he had wished for since his mother had given birth to little Frodo, the child that only existed because Tauriel had been generous enough to distribute her love between two brothers who were inseparable. Tauriel, the mother of this child. Tauriel, the woman he had treated badly...

Fíli started crying.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments and kudos are very much appreciated:)


	21. The Way Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigrid tries to find her way out of the woods...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank GrammarGrrrl for betareading this chapter.  
> Furthermore, I'd like to thank Nina for her constant reviews and everybody else who is reading this story.

When Sigrid woke up, she didn't know where she was, when she was.

Then it all came back to her.

She had irresponsibly run away after pissing off her fiancé (ex-fiancé) and her friends and had gotten lost in the woods after chasing after some kind of apparition or hallucination. Cheers!

Now, the heat of the day had been replaced by an evening chill and the trees around the clearing were casting long shadows. Soon, it would be getting dark.

Sighing heavily, Sigrid got up from the forest floor and tried to stand on a pair of shaky legs. She felt nauseous and thirsty and hungry, all at the same time, and she was experiencing cramps in her lower abdomen as if her period was about to start.

Finally. She was already almost a week late and if she hadn't been so distracted by Tauriel's and Kíli's wedding and planning this trip, she would have taken a pregnancy test, just to be sure. Now she knew that this would have been unnecessary since this night or tomorrow morning the bleeding would start.

However, her being pregnant would have been rather impossible since her fallopian tubes were blocked (due to endometriosis, though she hadn't told her fiancé - ex-fiancé) and Ori was most likely infertile due to an inflammation of the testes he had gotten as a child after he had been down with mumps. Therefore, they didn't take precautions like hormonal or barrier contraception, only relying on natural contraception.

For a moment, Sigrid tried to figure out from which direction she had come to decide into which direction she should go so that she would find back to her friends. It was then that she felt something running down the inside of her thigh - most likely blood, which really took her by surprise since the first day of her period had never resulted in such a strong bleeding.

When she looked down at herself, she could see that the inside of her burgundy capris had developed a darker shade of red. She touched it with a shaking hand and, yes, there was definitely blood on her finger tips.

Sigrid sobbed. She was in the middle of the woods, dehydrated and starving, injured and had started bleeding. Furthermore, night was approaching and she had nothing with her to keep her warm.

Sigrid knew that she would have to find back to civilization, otherwise, she might die from exposure!

Trying to calm herself down, she tried to decide into which direction she should go. It was hopeless. There was no clue where the road and the hiking trails were, where their cabin was. She could just blindly run into the woods and maybe be lucky, find one of the hiking trails, the road, or their cabin. Or she could still be lost.

Suddenly, she remembered what Kíli had told her, that Fíli had advised that they should let their hearts guide them when the brothers had been lost in the woods.

Yet Fíli and Kíli had several reasons to find back to the cabin: Tauriel and their babies. Sigrid had no one. She was sure that neither Ori nor Fíli were keen on seeing her again... However, she still liked them, they were her friends, no matter how they thought about her at the moment, she was already missing them, wanted to get back to them.

And then, at home, her family was waiting for her, her father and her siblings and her mother, her beautiful, fragile mother who was living in her own world but who still knew that she had three children and was always happy when they visited her.

Sigrid had to find a way out of the woods, she had to get back to her loved ones!

And suddenly she seemed to know into which direction to go. It was as if her feet found the way on their own.

Of course, it could just be her imagination, maybe she wasn't approaching civilization but moving further away from it. How should she know? She was completely disorientated. But this was her only chance and she would take it.

Giggling, because the very idea that her heart would guide her home was hilarious (or maybe because she was going mad like her mother) she just placed one foot in front of the other, carefully avoiding any vines or dried branches that could make her stumble and fall.

It was interesting, though, that she didn't choose a straight path but rather zigzagged her way through the undergrowth. If she had had consciously tried to find her way back she would have chosen a straight path, so maybe the whole let-your-heart-guide-you wasn't that idiotic? Who knew...

Yet she didn't consider that below the trees it would be darker than on the clearing. Involuntarily, Sigrid thought about the ghostly apparition, the red-haired woman in the wedding dress who had guided her deep into the woods, into the heart of darkness. Who was she? And why did she want to lead Sigrid astray?

Sigrid could hear something in the thicket next to her and gasped, almost expecting to see the woman again, but it was just a small fox. Sigrid just hoped that it wasn't rabid.

As if on cue, the animal lifted its head and sniffed the air, looking into her direction. Maybe it can smell the blood, she thought, feeling gross since there was more and more running down the insides of her thighs, her cramps getting worse.

Sigrid just wanted to lie down and rest with a hottie pressed against her lower abdomen, maybe drinking a cup of lady mantle's tea against the cramps, nap for a while. But she couldn't, she was still lost in the wood and needed to go home. So Sigrid just continued going on, not thinking about her way, just letting her feet do their job.

Then, finally, Sigrid thought she could see something between the trees. At first, it just looked like another clearing but then she was sure that she could also see some lights. Her heart started beating faster.

Their cabin was standing on a clearing and, of course, her friends would have turned on the lights.

Sigrid threw caution to the wind, no longer really paying attention to the forest floor since her eyes were fixed on those lights and she started running towards them.

A few times, she almost stumbled but could always catch her fall. And then she broke through the tree line, finally reaching the clearing and the cabin. Their cabin. It was true! Her heart had guided her home!

Washed over by relief, Sigrid collapsed on the grass, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Sigrid?"

Somebody had just called her name. Sigrid sat up, wiping away her tears and looking around, trying to find out who the voice belonged to since it had sounded very familiar.

And then she spotted him, standing there on the patio, cradling a squirming bundle in his arms. Fíli. And one of the babies.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, then he strode over to her, crouching down and pulling her into a one-armed hug since he was still holding the baby.

"Oh my god, is that really you? Or am I seeing things?" he asked after they had separated. Then he stood up and helped her to her feet.

She smiled shyly. "Yes, it's really me!"

He hugged her again, briefly, then he guided her back to the patio, his arm wrapped around her shoulders in a protective gesture and she couldn't help but to lean into him, to let his body heat warm her up.

"You are icy cold! And you must be thirsty and hungry! We'll just have to get you into a hot tub and prepare something to drink and to eat for you," he suggested, removing his arm from her shoulders to open the door that led from the patio into the kitchen.

When they went through the door, they came face to face with a surprised looking Tauriel and Kíli.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, guys, please share your thoughts and suggestions with me!


	22. Approach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrl.  
> Enjoy!

 

"Fíli!" Tauriel gasped, involuntarily taking a step back while Kíli seemed to move in front of her as if he wanted to protect her. This gesture hurt Fíli more than he was ready to admit.

So, he cleared his throat. "Hey, Tauriel, look whom I have found outside on our property!" he said because, honestly, he didn't know what else to say, given the circumstances.

Tauriel's eyes widened. "Sigrid!" she exclaimed, moving closer to the other woman while rocking a whimpering Rory. Sigrid, however, wrapped her arms around her middle and lowered her gaze.

"Hi," she meekly answered.

Tauriel opened her mouth in order to say something but then Teddy made a squealing noise and her attention was drawn to the baby.

"Oh, thank god, Teddy's with you, Fíli. We were worried sick when we couldn't find him," she remarked, "Kíli, can you please take him?"

Kíli nodded and stretched out his arms in order to receive the baby boy from his brother.

Yet Fíli hesitated.

Kíli frowned. "Fíli? Can you please give me my son? You've heard what Tauriel said," he argued.

Fíli snorted. "He isn't _your_ son, Kíli, he is _my_ son. Honestly, you already have Rory and you got Tauriel, Uncle adores you and Mama pampers you... What else do you want to take away from me?" His tone was colder and the words harsher than he had initially planned. So much for apologising and trying to repair their relationship!

"Fí-Fíli," Kíli stuttered, looking at his brother from big, brown eyes. Fíli knew the expression. Kíli has been using it since he was a baby. He wouldn't fall for it anymore!

"It's true, isn't it, Kíli? You always get everything you want. And what about me?" On the one hand, Fíli didn't understand were this new anger came from, on the other, he felt that talking like this to his brother had been long overdue. For a moment, they just stared at each other while Teddy was squirming in his arms and Rory whimpering in Tauriel's.

"Guys, can you please stop fighting? I'm not well..." Sigrid suddenly whispered, then she collapsed, right into Kíli's arms.

"She's unconscious! We need to call a doctor! Look at all her injuries and... and the blood!" Kíli nodded towards the insides of her pants and the floor on which several red drops were visible.

"We'll have to bring her into the living room. Kíli, can you carry her?" Tauriel asked.

Kíli chuckled humourlessly. "Sure, no problem, I'm just a little bit handicapped, with my bad arm and leg. I might need my brother's assistance for peeing, but carrying a fully-grown woman I can manage," he replied sarcastically.

Tauriel rolled her eyes. "You could have simply said no, Kíli... All right, Fíli, give me the baby and you can carry Sigrid then," she suggested.

Fíli simply nodded. Of course, Sigrid was in a bad condition, he had known that yet acting upon his jealousy and quarrelling with his brother had been more important to him than to help his friend. He was an asshole, through and through.

Carefully, he placed Teddy in Tauriel's free arm and was relieved that she didn't flinch when they touched. Then he took Sigrid from Kíli.

"Why is she bleeding down there?" Kíli suddenly asked, looking from Fíli to Tauriel and back again.

"I don't know, it could have several causes," Tauriel answered evasively.

Fíli knew why the bleeding alarmed his brother; it was the same reason why it made him feel queasy and Tauriel being evasive. It reminded them of Tauriel's miscarriage all those months ago.

"Do you think she is... that..." Kíli started but didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence.

"I don't know, Kíli," Fíli answered exasperated, then he brushed past his brother and Tauriel, towards the door leading into the living room. The others followed him.

After Fíli had placed Sigrid on the couch, Tauriel sent him upstairs to get Ori while handing the babies over to Kíli who had sat down on the other couch. Fíli couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy when Kíli took Teddy into his arms, yet there wasn't time for this now. Sigrid needed help and Ori needed to know that his ex-fiancée was back but in a bad condition.

When Fíli entered the bedroom Ori and Sigrid shared, he couldn't help but smile at the picture that greeted him. Ori lay curled up on one of the two queen-sized bed (and Fíli's gut told him that it must be Sigrid's), clutching a cushion to his chest.

"Ori?" he whispered, silently approaching his younger cousin, carefully placing a hand on his shoulder.

Ori made some unintelligible noise, burying his face in the cushion.

"Ori!" Fíli said again, louder this time, shaking his cousin's shoulder. Ori groaned and rolled onto his back, mumbling, "Wassup?"

Fíli sat down on the bed. "Sigrid's back!" he answered.

Ori's eyes widened and he sat up immediately. "Sig-Sigrid? How is she?" he wanted to know.

Fíli sighed. "Not really in a good condition. She found back to our cabin all on her own but then she collapsed right into Kíli's arms and is unconscious," he explained.

Ori all but jumped out of the bed. "I need to go and talk to her, Fíli, maybe it was all a misunderstanding, maybe she will come back to me," he babbled while running his hands through his hair to tame it, straightening his clothes.

Fíli shook his head. "Ori, don't take her by surprise like that. She has scratches all over her face, arms and legs, she is almost hypothermic and dehydrated and... and she is bleeding," he revealed.

Ori turned towards him. "Bleeding? Is she injured?" he demanded to know.

Fíli cleared his throat. "Well, no, I don't think it's that kind of bleeding..." he said ominously.

Ori drew his eyebrows together. "What do you mean with ' _not that kind of bleeding_ '?" he asked.

Fíli sighed, mussing up his hair. "Do you remember when Tauriel miscarried?"

Ori didn't reply to that, just stormed out of the room.

"Ori? Ori!" Fíli called after his cousin, following him, rushing to the stairs. Of course, being more athletic, he caught up with him, grabbing his arm before Ori could descend the stairs.

"Ori, wait, it doesn't mean that Sigrid is having a miscarriage, I mean, it's pretty unlikely for her being pregnant, isn't it? You had orchitis when you were twelve, meaning you are sterile, aren't you? Maybe she just got her period?" Fíli tried to reason but Ori shook his head.

"I'm not completely sterile, you know. I went to your urologist - Kíli advised me to do so before proposing to Sigrid, just in case she wanted to have children - and according to my semen analysis, I'm only partially sterile," he revealed.

That was new. Fíli didn't even know that Kíli and Ori had talked about such serious stuff. Too overwhelmed by this piece of information, he let go of Ori who rushed down the stairs immediately.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious about your thoughts on this!  
> Thanks to everyone who has left kudos and comments, especially Nina, Iscalibtra, and Cassidy_And_The_Company!


	23. Making Amends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ori and Sigrid...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first chapter from Ori's perspective...  
> Thank you, GrammarGrrrl, for being my beta!

As soon as Ori opened the door to the living room, he froze.

Sigrid was lying on one of the couches beneath a thick blanket while Tauriel was kneeling next to her on the floor talking quietly to her and Kíli was sitting on the other couch holding his crying babies.

Actually, he was the one who noticed Ori's presence, calling his name.

Immediately, Tauriel looked up and gestured for him to come over to the couch.

Ori swallowed hard and went to his ex-fiancée and his cousin's wife. Tauriel gave him a small smile and patted his shoulder before she went over to Kíli and took the babies from him.

"We leave you two alone for a moment, all right? The babies need to be changed and I think that Teddy is hungry," Tauriel explained before turning towards the door leading from the living room into the corridor. Kíli followed her.

As soon as Ori was alone with Sigrid, he knelt down next to her, suddenly feeling shy.

"Hi," he just said.

Sigrid looked up at him, worrying her already chapped lower lip, remaining quiet.

Tentatively, Ori extended a hand and brushed back a stray curl from her forehead. He had always loved her dark golden hair, so pretty and shiny and silky, unlike his own coarse, ginger wisps.

As soon as he touched her, she started crying. "I'm so, so sorry, Ori," she sobbed.

Ori could feel tears filling his own eyes. "Shh, it's okay, you were just angry and said things you didn't mean, I can understand, we will work through this, " he promised but Sigrid shook her head.

"No, I meant every word I said. And that's why I'm so sorry, Ori. You deserve better than me, always have. I... I wasn't honest with you, used you to get over someone else. And that wasn't fair!" she exclaimed, taking his hand into hers.

Ori could feel his heart break. The whole time he had believed that when Sigrid was back they could just make up and everything would be all right again. But her words suggested differently.

"It's okay," he said, hoping that Sigrid was just confused and traumatized because of what she had gone through, refusing to let her go without a fight.

"It's not okay, Ori! You are such a good person, always kind and gentle. And I was so terrible to you... please forgive me!" she cried, pressing the back of his hand against her lips.

Ori hated to see her this humble; it didn't suit her. The Sigrid he knew had always been practical, sensible, and sassy.

"Of course, I forgive you, Sig, I love you, always and forever, even though you don't want me anymore" he answered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Sigrid sobbed again. "Please, don't love me, don't be nice to me, I don't deserve it," she countered, but Ori shook his head.

"Oh, you deserve it, believe me, you might not see it now but you are also a good and kind person, taking care of your siblings the way you did after your mother had been institutionalized, helping your father," he reminded her.

Sigrid gave him a sad smile. "Yet your mother never liked me..." she replied.

Ori sighed. It was true. As soon as he had revealed to his mother that he wanted to marry Sigrid, she had told him that pretty girls like Sigrid would never fall for plain looking boys like him, that one day Sigrid would break his heart, that she was only taking advantage of him. Had she been right, after all? Ori refused to believe it, refused to believe that his relationship with Sigrid was over.

"My mother doesn't like anyone," he stated. That was also true. She was constantly complaining about her neighbours, about their relatives, about his brothers. Ori was sure that she was also complaining about him behind his back, especially since he had moved out of her house in April and moved in together with Sigrid...

Moving in together had been a big step for him, more so than proposing. Since Sigrid wanted to have the two-bedroom apartment so that "Tilda" could stay overnight whenever she wanted to, Ori had dared to dream about them having kids together; it might not be easy, but not impossible because Kíli's and Fíli's urologist had told him that he was not completely sterile.

Fíli's comment about Sigrid's bleeding came back to his mind, so he gathered his courage, asking, "Sigrid, are you pregnant?"

To his surprise, the pretty, young woman started crying again. "I don't know," she answered, averting her gaze.

Yet Ori was convinced that he knew. Yes, she was...

"We need to get you to a hospital," he whispered, and if on cue, Fíli entered the living room, looking completely misplaced.

"Tauriel asked me to drive Sigrid and you to the hospital, Ori... Are you ready?"

Ori didn't even bother to answer, he just got up from the floor and tried to lift Sigrid from the couch, yet failing, not because she was too heavy but because he was too weak.

Instantly, Fíli was at his side, helping him.

Sigrid was very fragile, clinging to them so that she wouldn't collapse again.

"Do you think you can walk?" Fíli asked her.

Sigrid nodded. "Yeah, if you two help me?" It sounded rather like a question than a statement and Ori knew why Sigrid was suddenly so insecure. It was because of Fíli. She still wasn't over him. Ori felt a pang of jealousy. Then he grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around Sigrid's shoulders, saying, "I assume that you will drive, Fíli, since we will most likely take Tauriel's car, won't we?"

Fíli nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Then he grabbed the bottle of water sitting on the coffee table and handed it over to Ori. "Here, make sure that she takes small sips every couple of minutes because she is dehydrated and keep her warm during the drive because she is hypothermic, all right?" he instructed.

Ori smiled at his friend. "All right!"

Fíli briefly nodded at him, then they helped Sigrid walking towards the cabin door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I'm really curious about what you think!  
> Thanks to everyone who is reading this, especially those who are leaving kudos and comments.


	24. Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Kíli and Tauriel are alone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go to my beta, GrammarGrrrl!

Kíli was sitting on the bed, his back propped up against several pillows, holding a happily gurgling Rory in his arms, while Tauriel was sitting in the rocking chair, nursing Teddy and humming a lullaby.

He felt completely useless with his wrist and leg, especially since he hadn't even been able to change Rory's and Teddy's diapers a couple of minutes ago.  _Great, Kíli_ , he thought.

Then, Teddy finished drinking and Tauriel rearranged the baby's position to burp him - like she had done with Rory in the living  room before they had run into Fíli and Sigrid.

Thinking about his brother made Kíli's heart clench. Yes, Fíli had screwed up, frightened Tauriel and made her cry, but he wouldn't really have hurt her, right? Kíli refused to believe anything else. He was glad that he had interrupted the situation at this stage, though.

Fíli was very sorry about his behaviour. He had only told them so a couple of minutes ago, yet Tauriel had ignored his apology, ordering him to accompany Sigrid and Ori to the hospital.

"Do you think you will ever forgive Fíli?" Kíli asked.

Tauriel stopped humming the lullaby and looked at him. "I don't know Kíli. It's just... it's too early. He really disappointed me, behaved in a way I would have never thought possible," she explained.

Kíli nodded. That made sense. However, he worried that maybe now their relationship was beyond repair. Thinking about that made him very sad, so sad that a tear was rolling down his cheek, falling onto Rory's forehead. The baby frowned when the teardrop met her skin and Kíli couldn't help but smile. His daughter was the cutest baby he had ever seen. Well, maybe except Teddy. Thinking about Teddy made Kíli instantly sad again since he was Fíli's son - Fíli had made that clear enough - and there was definitely a rift between Fíli and Tauriel, the two people Kíli loved more than anyone else - except for his babies and maybe his mother.

Another tear was rolling down his cheek and he wiped it away before it could fall onto his baby again.

"Hey, don't cry, Kíli," Tauriel suddenly whispered next to him, letting her hand run through his hair, sitting down on the bed without the baby. She extended her arms, gesturing for him to give her Rory and he complied. Then Tauriel stood up and walked over to the cribs, placing Rory into one of them before joining Kíli on the bed again.

Without speaking a word, she took his face between her hands, caressing his stubbly cheeks and looking into his eyes for a moment, then leaning towards him, sealing his lips with hers. It was their first real kiss in two days. Kíli could feel his manhood stir with desire for his wife.

Their kiss deepened and she straddled him, yet minding his healing leg.

"Make love to me," she panted after they finally separated.

"Of course," he answered, letting his hands wander beneath her oversized t-shirt, caressing her back, feeling clumsy in the process due to his plaster cast.

"I'm afraid you must help me undress you, I'm a little bit handicapped," he finally admitted and Tauriel smiled at him before kissing his nose. Then she leant back a bit and slowly, sensually took off her t-shirt, revealing her creamy skin inch by inch as well as her black nursing bra (Kíli had been really surprised that fancy nursing bras existed when Tauriel had ordered some while still being pregnant).

"You are so beautiful, darling" he whispered before capturing her lips in another kiss, stroking her flanks.

Again, it was her who broke the kiss. "And you are overdressed, my love," she replied, letting her hands wander to the hem of his plain, black t-shirt, helping him to get rid of it, letting her hands roam freely over his exposed, tanned skin, her fingers through his dark chest hair.

They took their time, undressing and exploring each  other, until they were finally completely naked. Yet, when Kíli grabbed her hips to help her settle down on his arousal, she stopped him. "Wait! We should put a towel underneath," she suggested and got up from the bed, walking over to the wardrobe, opening one of the drawers and taking out a dark blue towel. 

Kíli frowned. "Why? We've never put anything underneath before. If it gets messy, we can just change the sheets afterwards," he said.

Tauriel blushed and lowered her gaze. "I bled last night. It freaked Fíli out. So, I want to spare you the same shock if it happens again," she explained without looking at him.

Now Kíli was really confused. "You mean you got your period?" he wanted to know.

Tauriel just shook her head, still avoiding his gaze. "No, Fíli and I... we had sex. Rather rough sex. And I bled afterwards," she finally confessed.

Kíli could feel his stomach twist. Did she just told him that his brother had made her bleed? Like those bastard Bolg? Kíli had told his brother to be gentle with her. She was still healing from giving birth!

"Did he hurt you?" he asked bluntly, not being able to hide the anger in his voice.

Finally, Tauriel looked up at him. "He didn't do it on purpose, Kíli. It just got a little bit out of hand. And... and I wanted it like that. I even hurt him too, scratching his back badly," she admitted.

Kíli swallowed hard, closing his eyes. He appreciated her honesty, yet her confession hurt him. To hear that his brother and his wife had treated each other like that in bed... Of course, Kíli knew that Fíli and Tauriel liked it rough. But that rough? Well, that was new!

Suddenly, he felt a warm and soft hand on his cheek and opened his eyes again.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked him.

Kíli gave her a sad smile. "Nay, just a little bit disappointed that you two hurt each other like that," he answered, placing his hand on her bruised hip, recognizing the imprint of his brother's hand on her creamy skin, pulling her closer. Then he took the towel from her. "You know that I will be gentle with you. Do you really think we will need this?" he wanted to know.

Tauriel shrugged her shoulders. "It would certainly be handy," she stated.

Kíli nodded. Then he rose to his knees and placed the towel on the bedsheet before he sat down again, leaning back against the pillows, extending his arms towards her.

She smiled fondly at him while he pulled her onto his lap.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!  
> I'd like to thank all my readers, especially Nina, who left a comment on the last chapter.


	25. Rupture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kíli and Turiel made love, Kíli receives a phone call from his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been a while... Sorry!  
> Unbetaed.

 

As soon as he entered her, Kíli couldn't help but utter a feral grown; it felt too good to be inside of her again and it was difficult for him to restrain himself, to not start frantically thrusting into her.

So he simply closed his eyes, bit his lower lip and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist until she was ready to start moving.

Apparently Tauriel needed a moment to adjust to him, to his girth (and Kíli could imagine why - surely she was still sore from the night before) because he could feel her body tense, pressing her nails into his shoulders.

And then she started to gyrate her hips.

Kíli immediately opened his eyes and captured her lips in a sloppy kiss, his grip tightening around her.

"Oh, Tauriel, Tauriel, I love you so much," he gasped in between kisses, each one more desperate than the one before.

"Love you too," was her reply, her hands roaming freely over his back, through his hair, as if she needed to touch every part of him, to make sure that he was there and that he was hers.

Despite the urgency they felt, their coupling remained slow and tender, her hips moving in a steady rhythm and he was following her lead, trying his best to not hurt her like Fíli did. Thinking about his brother made Kíli angry. What the hell was wrong with Fíli? To treat Tauriel, his one true love, his wife like that? Kíli swore that he would never again allow Fíli to touch her, to come near her. Or the babies. Yes, Fíli screwed up big!

Then Tauriel sped up her movements and thinking became difficult for him.

"I'm close, love," he whispered, burying his face in her neck, inhaling her wonderful scent, like vanilla and jasmine.

"Then just let go," she breathed into his ear and Kíli didn't need to be told twice; moaning her name he spilled himself deep inside of her, while she was holding him tight, pressing soft kisses to his temple, to his hair.

They held each other close for some time afterwards before Tauriel got up from his lap.

"You alright?", Kíli asked, frowning.

Tauriel gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, perfect," she reassured him before adding, "I'll just go into the bathroom to clean up a bit."

Kíli frowned. "You are not bleeding are you?" he wanted to know and involuntarily looked down on his member, to check for any traces of blood, but it was only covered with their intermingled juices.

Tauriel sighed. "No, Kíli, I'm not bleeding. I shouldn't have told you about it, knowing you, you will ask me this every time after we've had sex! Something to look forward to," she said acidly, then left the bedroom through the connecting door to the bathroom.

Kíli growled in frustration. Of course, Tauriel had to get pissed, yet he only meant well, wanted to make sure that she was alright after their lovemaking... Suddenly, he noticed something odd. Tauriel had said 'after we've had sex', a term she usually used for her couplings with Fíli. Why didn't she say 'after we've made love'? Kíli wondered. Maybe she was still angry with Fíli and by proxy with Kíli.

"This is all totally fucked up!" he whispered, then covered himself with the blanket and tried to get comfortable. The medication and his recent activities were taking their toll on his body and he felt very sleepy. He should probably clean up as well, yet Tauriel hadn't seemed to be keen on having him with her in the bathroom and since he could hear the shower running, it would take a while before she would come out of the bathroom. Furthermore, due to his injuries he wasn't able to clean up all by himself and would have to ask her for her assistance; he'd rather do that when she was in a better mood... His mobile rang and startled him from his light slumber. Fortunately, it was still resting on his nightstand.

"Yeah?" he asked grumpily.

"Oh, someone's in a good mood," the voice on the other end joked. It was Fíli.

"What's up?" Kíli wanted to know, ignoring his brother's comment.

"I just wanted to let you guys know that we've arrived at the hospital. Sigrid's still bleeding and almost unconscious yet they told us to wait because there had been a pub brawl which ended up in a knife fight and the doctors are currently treating the squabblers," Fíli revealed.

"Okay, but why are you exactly calling right now if you don't know anything new about Sigrid's condition?" Kíli inquired slightly irritated because his brother had disturbed his napping.

"Oh, I know something new... The nurse at the reception made Sigrid pee on a stick and guess what? It was positive! Apparently, Ori has knocked her up, can you believe that? I mean, come on, he's had orchitis!" Fíli explained in a shrill voice.

Kíli's stomach clenched. Sigrid was pregnant and bleeding, meaning that she was losing her child, a child whose conception was a miracle in itself.

"That's awful, I mean not the pregnancy but that she is losing her baby," Kíli remarked.

"Oh, no, you got this wrong. Yes, she is bleeding but the nurse who examined her afterwards told us that the baby's fine. Sigrid just needs some rest and maybe some medication but that would be the doctor's decision, so we will have to wait," Fíli disclosed.

Kíli felt relieved. Sigrid's baby was fine. That was good news. Yet the bleeding still worried him...

"Do you think she will make it?" he asked his older brother.

Fíli snorted. "Of course she will! Do you think they would let us sit here and wait if her life was in danger?" he retorted.

Kíli rolled his eyes though Fíli couldn't see it. "Of course not! But you have to admit that she was bleeding heavily before you guys left for the hospital," he elaborted.

Fíli sighed. "I know. And not only at the cabin... I fear the backseat of Tauriel's car is pretty ruined," he confessed.

Now Kíli had an idea. "Why don't you try to clean it? I mean, you are not needed there at the hospital, are you? Ori's with her, so you could drive Tauriel's car to the petrol station and try to remove the blood," he argued.

For some reason that seemed to enrage Fíli. "I'm not leaving her alone, do you hear me? She is my friend! I've already done enough to hurt her..." he admitted.

Kíli didn't know what his brother was talking about. Yes, Sigrid was their friend, yet Kíli never got the impression that Fíli and Sigrid were especially close, the only time they had seemed to get on really well had been at Sigrid's eighteenth birthday...

"You slept with her, didn't you!" Kíli suddenly accused his brother.

"No, Kíli, I didn't, I swear! Anyway, I'll have to go now, to calm Ori down a bit, he is panicking the whole time and you know that he usually gets ill after being upset and we can't afford another sick or impaired member of our gang. Bye!" With these words, Fìli ended the call, not even waiting for Kíli to say his goodbyes.

With another frustrated growl, Kíli put his phone back on the nightstand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope there are still some readers left who are interested in this story.


	26. Clues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gimli and Legolas return to the cabin...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, yay!  
> This time it is from Gimli's point of view.

When Gimli and Legolas came back to the cabin at dusk, the house was dark and quiet.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” Legolas asked, after switching on the lights in the living room.

“Fíli? Kíli? Ori?” Gimli shouted after closing the door behind him.

They got no answer.

Legolas turned towards his boyfriend. “Where is everybody?” he wanted to know and his light blue eyes were wide with fear.

Gimli shrugged. “Maybe they are sitting on the patio, having a barbecue?” he suggested.

Legolas scowled. “Really? With Sigrid missing and Kíli being sick?” he shot back.

Gimli shrugged again. “Maybe Sigrid has returned and they are celebrating? I mean, Kíli might be sick but not that sick,” he elaborated but Legolas shook his head.

“No, Gimli. I don't think so. I don't know why but I somehow have the feeling that something is wrong... What if the babies got ill? Or something terrible happened to Sigrid? Or Kíli's condition got worse again?” the blond young man argued.

Gimli sighed and ran a hand through his unruly red curls. “You are really an optimist, aren't you? Don't you think they would have tried to inform us about those things? Yet neither your nor my mobile rang the whole time,” he explained.

Legolas growled in frustration, imitating Gimli's gesture. “You are really not used to hiking in the woods, are you? There's no reception! So even if they had tried to inform us, they wouldn't have been able to,” he elaborated.

Gimli immediately took his mobile out and checked for any missed calls or text messages. Nothing.

“Well, I know for sure that there is reception here in the cabin. However, there are still no messages or missed calls,” he pointed out, showing his boyfriend the display of his mobile.

“Alright, Gimli, you win! Maybe nothing terrible has happened,” Legolas finally relented, making a dramatic gesture with his arms that reminded Gimli of Thranduil, Legolas's father; Gimli hated it.

“So, what do we do now? Search the cabin for the others?” the redhead asked, frowning.

Legolas nodded. “Yes, that's a good idea! Let's start with the kitchen!”

To their surprise they didn't find the others in the kitchen but obviously their abandoned dinner preparations.

“Now this is creepy,” Legolas commented when they saw the baking tins with pizza dough and tomato sauce, the pots and plates with all the ingredients that were needed to make a terrific pizza.

“Yeah, it's like in a horror movie, you know, people just disappearing while doing their normal stuff...” Gimli agreed and instinctively grabbed his boyfriend's hand.

“Let's check Tauriel's bedroom!” Legolas suggested, squeezing Gimli's hand before dragging him off again. Gimli contemplated correcting him, saying that it was Kíli's and Fíli's bedroom as well, but remained silent.

“Tauriel?” Legolas called his sister's name while bursting into the room, switching the lights on.

“Oh my gosh! Do you want to give me a heart attack?” a dishevelled looking figure gasped, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes; it was Kíli.

“Where is Tauriel?” Legolas demanded to know.

Kíli took a deep breath, then he ran a hand through his dark waves.

“In the bathroom, I would guess. At least that's where she has been before I fell asleep,” he explained, wrapping the blanket around his waist and trying to get up.

“Where are you going?” Legolas asked.

Kíli rolled his eyes at him. “I have to make sure that the babies are okay – you made so much noise,” he answered.

Gimli had to suppress a chuckle. While Legolas and Fíli seemed to get along well enough, Kíli and Legolas were always bickering.

As it turned out, Kíli's choice to use a blanket in order to cover himself had been a mistake since the fabric was more renitent than he had obviously thought because it slipped from his hips as soon as he was leaning over one of the cribs.

Legolas immediately averted his gaze and shrieked, “Why on earth are you completely naked?”

Gimli couldn't contain his laughter anymore. To him, it seemed as if they were in a bad comedy, especially when Kíli turned bright red and tried to pick up the blanket from the floor and wrap his lower body in it.

“What do you think, Legs? Why would anyone be naked in bed?” he finally managed to ask.

Now Legolas also turned red. “Oh, please, don't tell me you have just slept with my sister! That's... uagh!” he exclaimed and literally fled the room.

Gimli thought he had never before laughed this hard in all his life.

“Ha ha, very funny, Gimli!” Kíli mumbled embarrassed after fastening the blanket around his hips and looking first into one crib then the other.

Then he sighed with relief. “Thank god, the babies are still asleep! So can you please stop making such a noise?” he asked his cousin.

Gimli nodded while wiping away the tears from his eyes. However, he needed a few moments to recover from his laughing fit.

“I'm sorry, Kíli, the whole situation was just so surreal! Legolas's indignation and facial expression and your futile attempt to cover your nakedness with the blanket!” he snorted with laughter again.

“Okay, that's enough! Get out! I won't let you wake up the babies,” Kíli said seriously, grabbing Gimli's shoulder and shoving him out of the room.

The redhead didn't mind, though. Actually, he was happy when Kíli slammed the door shut behind him which must have woken one of the babies since he could hear an infant's cries over his own laughter, followed by Kíli cursing.

As soon as Gimli had calmed down a bit, he heard someone talking on the first floor. Guessing that maybe the rest of their gang was there, he went upstairs and noticed that the voices were coming from Ori's and Sigrid's room.

When he entered the room, a surprise awaited him. It wasn't Ori and Sigrid, as he had assumed, but Legolas and Tauriel. He was sitting on one of the queen-sized beds while she was standing in front of the wardrobe, a duffel bag in her hands, wearing olive green yoga pants and a brown tank top.

“What's going on? Where are the others?” he asked his boyfriend and his cousin's wife.

Both of them turned towards him.

“I'm packing some things for Sigrid. She has to stay at the hospital for a couple of days and needs fresh clothes as well as her toiletry case,” Tauriel explained. Her hair, still half-wet from the shower, was falling down her back and over her shoulders.

“So Sigrid's back? And she has to go the hospital? Where is she?” Gimli wanted to know, looking from Tauriel to Legolas.

Legolas sighed. “Tauriel has just started explaining everything to me. All I know is that Sigrid arrived back at the cabin while we were gone, bleeding heavily, so Ori and Fíli have accompanied her to the hospital,” he declared.

Gimli frowned.”I understand that Ori went with her, but why Fíli? Isn't he needed here? To take care of his brother and his babies?” he wondered aloud.

Tauriel shrugged. “Ori doesn't have a car at the moment. So I asked Fíli to drive them to the hospital in my car. That's why he went with them. Then, when I came out of the shower, he sent me a text message, saying that Kíli wouldn't answer his phone, yet he wanted to inform us that he would be coming back to the cabin to grab a few things for Sigrid since she has to stay at the hospital for a few days,” Tauriel elaborated.

Gimli took a deep breath. Everything was still very mysterious to him. “And why does she have to stay at the hospital? What happened to her?” he wanted to know.

Tauriel shrugged again. “Fíli didn't say. Anyway, he will be here in about thirty minutes. You can ask him for yourself then, when he fetches Sigrid's stuff,” Tauriel suggested.

Gimli was confused. Why wouldn't Tauriel ask him?

Somehow Gimli felt that something big had happened while he and Legolas had been enjoying their hike in the woods.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are still interested in this story...  
> Please let me know what you think!


	27. Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ori keeps Sigrid company in the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter from Ori's point of view.  
> I hope you enjoy!

Ori watched a sleeping Sigrid, lying in her hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown, being hooked to an IV. Although her curls looked pretty lank and her face rather pale after everything she had gone through, she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Holding her hand in his, Ori wondered what the future had in store for them.

Sigrid was pregnant!

He still couldn't believe it.

The doctors had been really puzzled that the baby was strong and healthy, still clinging to its mother's womb, although Sigrid's endometrium had started to shed. Luckily, they had been able to stop the bleeding. If everything went well, he would be a father in about seven months since Sigrid was eight weeks pregnant.

Somehow Ori liked the thought that their baby had been conceived the same day Fíli's and Kíli's twins had been born, though he knew it could have also happened the day before or after or even any other day during that week since he and Sigrid had sex on a daily basis, usually two or three times a day since they had moved in together. Of course, during her fertile time of the month they would resume to other, non-penetrative methods to give each other pleasure, like oral sex or mutual masturbation because she didn't like to use hormonal, chemical or barrier contraception. And when she had her period, Sigrid would always make sure to keep him happy with blow jobs and hand jobs.

If he was honest, her sexual appetite had frightened him at the beginning of their relationship. Then he had started to feel flattered that she seemed to desire him that much, being rather vocal in bed, claiming to 'love the feeling' of his 'cock in her pussy', 'needing' him 'to fill' her ' with his 'cum'.

At first he had found it intimidating to hear her say such vulgar things when they were making love, later he had to admit that it actually turned him on somehow.

Furthermore, they had been each other's first, meaning that they had figured out everything together, what they liked, tried out different things.

But it didn't matter anymore, did it. She had called off their engagement, had admitted to not being in love with him, to have used him in order to get over her unrequited love for Fíli.

But it didn't change the fact that she was carrying his child!

They would still have to be friends in order to raise this child together since Ori would not want to miss seeing his little son or daughter growing up. And there was still the flat they had rented together. He couldn't afford it on his own, depending on her share of paying the rent. Maybe they could be flatmates, at least as long as their child was still young enough to sleep in his or her mother's bedroom? There were two bedrooms after all...

Sigrid stirred, sighing in her sleep, drawing her eyebrows together.

“Shhh, it's okay, you are safe,” he whispered, brushing back the curls from her face. Maybe this was the last time he would be able to do this, watching her sleep, touching her lovingly...

Sigrid didn't calm down, though, breathing heavily now, throwing her head from side to side on the pillow, clutching his hand with her left one and the blanket with her right one. She was either having a nightmare or in pain.

Instinctively, he lifted the blanket, wanting to make sure that she hadn't started bleeding again (which was not the case, thank god), then he called for the nurse.

Shortly after, a tired looking, middled-aged women with a plumb figure entered the room, frowning when she noticed Ori.

“What are you still doing here? Visiting hours are long over,” she declared.

Ori cleared his throat. “Oh, well, I know, I'm sorry, but the doctor who treated my fiancée... ex-fiancée... said it was okay to sit with her until my cousin comes back with her personal stuff,” he stuttered, turning bright red.

To his surprise, the nurse smiled indulgently. “I see. And I take it that you called for me. Why?”

Ori stepped aside so that the nurse could take a look at Sigrid who was still tossing and turning.

“I don't know what's wrong with her,” he whispered.

The nurse frowned then she checked Sigrid's tubes, checked the infusion bag, took Sigrid's pulse.

“Do you think she is in pain?” Ori wanted to know.

The nurse shook her head. “I don't think so. Yet I'll get a doctor so that he can do another ultrasound, just to be safe,” she said, then leaving the room.

Ori sat down in the chair next to Sigrid's bed, burying his face in his hands.

Just a couple of minutes ago, he had been making plans about their future, about their baby's future and now the baby's life could be in danger. Or Sigrid's. Why else was the nurse getting a doctor? Something was wrong and she didn't want to tell him.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his forearm and Ori startled, looking up.

It was Sigrid.

She looked at him with a frightened expression, whispering, “Ori, make her go away, please!”

Ori looked around the room, thinking that maybe the nurse had come back, scaring Sigrid in her fragile state. But they were alone in the room.

“Sig, darling, no one is here except for us!” he said emphatically, placing a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her down.

However, Sigrid shook her head. “No, Ori, she is here, the lady in white. I've already seen her in the woods, she wanted me to get lost but I fought against her and now she is angry... She wants my baby!” Sigrid sobbed, clutching his arm.

Ori sat down on her bed, embracing her tightly. Her gown was wet with sweat and she was shivering.

“Sigrid, you are in the hospital, you are safe! And so is our baby,” he tried to reason but Sigrid was frantic. “No, I'm not safe! She wants my baby because she lost hers, that was the reason why she lured me into the woods, why I started bleeding... But you can't have her, do you hear me? You can't have my baby!” Sigrid shouted.

Ori felt something wet running down his cheeks and noticed that he had started crying. Sigrid's condition was frightening him. Was she losing her mind?

Of course, Ori knew about the mental condition of Sigrid's mother, her being institutionalized due to paranoid schizophrenia. Was Sigrid suffering from it as well?

Or was she really seeing someone?

Ori remembered his cousins' (especially Fíli's) strange behaviour and his suspicions with regard to the cabin, remembered Tauriel and the babies' odd behaviour.

Fíli thought that something was wrong with the cabin. Maybe he was right.

As soon as possible Ori would do some research; he was a journalist, after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's wrong with Sigrid?  
> Is the lady in white real or does she only exist in Sigrid's mind?  
> And if she is real, will Tauriel and the twins be in danger?  
> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
